Aurora
Aurora \a(u)-ro-ra\ as a girl's name is pronounced aw-ROHR-ah. It is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Aurora is "dawn".
Holy shiiiiit. It's been a long time since I've updated. I doubt that I'll post anything of personal value anytime soon, especially soon I got myself a Tumblr. Anyway, here's another game review.
You are forewarned that there are spoilers ahead.
for Symphony ~with all one's heart~ Portable is a dual protagonist romantic adventure released by Takuyo for the PSP in 2007. It was originally released for the PC in 2003 and re-released for the PS2 in 2005.
Similar to e'tude prologue ~揺る動く心のかたち~ ポータブル, it features two protagonists, a male and female, both named "Fujii Yuuki." However, unlike e'tude prologue, both protagonists are faceless and when you choose to play as one, you replace the other.
You start the game at the beginning of your third year at Sakurazuka High School. You play through the entirety of the third year, separated into four chapters: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The first two chapters compromises the common route, while the last two are character-specific. The system is your basic visual novels: at certain times in the game, you are given a selection of answers from which you must choose one as your response.
I believe in the superiority of the female gender, so I will start with the introduction of the female character and her routes.
Female Protagonist Walkthrough
The female character is an only child living alone in her family's home. Her parents have recently separated and moved out, and to pick up the slack, she has a secret part-time job at a convenience store to supplement her living costs.
Arima Keisuke is Yuuki's childhood friend, going all the way back to kindergarten. He's like your typical RPG action hero; energetic, headstrong, not dumb, but not book-smart either, has a little difficulty expressing his emotions, and just a tad bit indecisive. Entering his third year of high school, he doesn't know what he wants to do after graduation, and his indecision plagues him through the year. Yuuki encourages him to find something he's passionate about, and he becomes heartened by it.
When Kanou Teruya, Keisuke's best friend, confesses to Yuuki at the beginning of the second semester, she is surprised. Keisuke witnesses this and gives his own confession when he walks her home. However, she is distraught by both, because she sees the former as an important friend and the latter as a childhood friend. The two of them know of each other's confession to her and ask for her response while working at the school festival. She can't give one, because it would mean that she has to pick one over the other and she doesn't want to hurt anyone. When her parents divorced, both wanted her to go with them. She didn't want to pick, but ended up picking her father in a panic. Seeing the hurt in her mother's eyes, she didn't go with her father either. Now she's alone in the house. Keisuke tells her that one can only be hurt if they allow themselves to be hurt. She realizes that she cares for them both and asks for more time. Kanou suggests that she give them an answer at graduation.
Over winter vacation, after they spend a day at the game center relieving the stress from studying, some thugs start to pick a fight with them. Keisuke takes them on by himself to give Kanou and Yuuki a chance to get away. She insists that going back to help Keisuke and brings him back to her house to fix him up. Kanou takes her off to the side and tells her that he's backing out, seeing her dedication to Keisuke. At graduation, Yuuki gives Keisuke her answer and happily ever after, more or less. Keisuke ends up studying law in college and became a policeman. Voiced by Yuuki Hiro.
Keisuke's route is not dull, but it is absolutely not exciting in any way. It's likely to put you to sleep, but it's not bad. You know, it's meh. It's not great, but you know it could be so much worse. One thing I did love was Yuuki Hiro as the voice actor. I mostly associate him with Weiß Kreuz and Angelique, so it was a nice breath of fresh air hearing him in a game I haven't play yet. Still, I shouldn't have been surprised, since this game was made in 2003, when he was much more prolific.
Kanou Teruya is Yuuki's classmate and Arima Keisuke's best friend. He's pretty much the prince of the school, with top grades, a pleasant personality, good looks, and his own damn fan club. His father passed away when he was younger, and his mother is the sole breadwinner. He wanted to start working straight out of junior high, but his mother insisted on him going to high school and college, so he is studying hard in school to go to college and support his mother when he graduates.
Yuuki starts to spend a good amount of time with him, just studying and walking home together. He tells her one day that he is actually on a scholarship that is supposed to be kept hush-hush with several conditions: he must place in the top three for midterms and finals; have a flawless record; willingly be used in promotional activities for the school; and get into a good university. Having lost his father, he can also tell that when Yuuki talks about how she hates her parents, she's simply hurt that that they divorced and left her all alone in the house.
His fan club soon notices how much time they spend together, and Kousaka Kazuki, Yuuki's best friend, tells her so and warns her to beware of the fan club. They start pulling shit like stealing her shoes and hiding them on the roof, ruining her math textbook and gym clothes, and taking her school slippers out of her shoe locker. After seeing some of these pranks in action, Kazuki insists that Yuuki tell the teachers or Kanou to get the fan club to back off, or else she would. Yuuki begs her not to, as she believes that it would implicate Kanou and take away his scholarship or he might feel responsible and leave the school. She says that simply seeing him everyday makes her happy, and it was worthy the bullying.
After working together on the school festival, Kanou confesses his feelings to her and tells her that he will wait until after university exams for her to consider her own feelings and her response. The fan club calls her up to the roof some time later to get her to stay away from him. They tell that that they like him, because he's cool, kind, and number oven in the school. Yuuki tells them that liking is fine and all, but all the pranks won't make her change her relationship with him and it's ultimately bad for Kanou. The ringleader seems to be moved by her speech and backs down. At their graduation, she reciprocates his feelings and go to the same national university. Voiced by Toriumi Kousuke.
Ugh. I was thinking of keeping the game around after Keisuke's route, since it seemed like an excellent example of late-90's/early-00's otome game. But I hate fangirls who pull stupid pranks just because the guy they like is interested in a girl who is not one of them. I like Kanou and Yuuki's relationship, but I hate her spineless attitude about the bullying. Yes, I know she's keeping silent, because she don't want to get him in trouble, but surely you could have told on them without mentioning Kanou. Please, where are my heroines with a spine that is as a strong as a sword and actually has a sword to ward off would-be bullies? Also, with all the bullying, I expected it to build up to a brilliant, dramatic scene, but all they give me is some posing and speeches. Please, if I wanted posing and speeches, I would watch same old school Sailor Moon AND they would have some nice drama to top it off.
Kousaka Youji is Kousaka Kazuki's younger brother and a junior high 3rd year. Yuuki has known him since she was in 3rd grade and he in kindergarten. He's incredibly cheeky with little regard of how some of his actions could turn out, and he has liked Yuuki for forever.
Whenever she visits Kazuki at the Kousaka residence, Youji is always there to tell her he likes her and to ask her to go out with him. She tries very hard to let him down gently with the "I like you, but…" line, but he doesn't take the hint. He's happy with the "I like you" part and convinced that she will come to like him. Whenever she and Kazuki go out, he tags along, because he deliberately listens in on Kazuki's phone calls to know if the two of them are going out. Even when Kazuki goes to Yuuki's house to study, he tags along and even insists on seeing her room. AND SHE LETS HIM INTO HER ROOM. WHAT THE WHAT? She's a teenaged girl living in a house all by herself and she lets a boy up in her room? I don't care if her best friend is there and that he is her younger brother, there is an entire house for her to study in with two other people and she chooses her room? I… I can't. I just can't. He confesses and asks her out again. She gives him a pity affirmation, because what the hell? She's got never better to do. During summer vacation, Kazuki and Yuuki go to the beach, with Youji tagging along without permission. And when Yuuki visits Kazuki at her house to help her with her homework, he starts calling himself her boyfriend. She lets him continue with his little delusion, because again, what the hell. When school begins again, he goes Sakurazuka High School, where Yuuki attends, and ambushes her to "walk home with her" and "go on dates."
One night, after her part time job, she goes to the bookstore and sees Youji with another girl. She overhears him convincing the girl to go to Sakurazuka, which is the high school he's aiming for, and Yuuki runs away feeling hurt. She sees them again after school and runs off again. When Kazuki meets her at her house late, the former tells her that these feelings are of her feeling jealous and that she likes Youji, and not in a little brother kind of way. Yuuki ends up deciding to let go of Youji and being extremely cold and rude to him the next time she sees him. She feels guilty about her behavior and apologizes to him, but instill breaks things off between the two of them. Days later, when Youji understands that she's angry about the other girl, he reassures her that she is a dude friend to him with dude interests and that it simply can't be compared to the ten years he has liked her for.
On the day of her university exams, she looks out her window and see that Youji wrote "Good luck" on the road with chalk. She finds him before her exams and tells him to meet her at the park at night. She agrees to be his girlfriend as he has given her the courage to face life and her future. She goes to college, and he goes to Sakurazuka aspiring to do work in the arts. Voiced by Hoshi Souichirou.
I find it really hard to fully explain the extent of my visceral hatred towards Kousaka Youji. Let's start with his stalker issues. He uses his sister's outing to stalk Yuuki and insists, no matter how many times she says "I like you, but," that she will come around and like him the way he likes her. No way. Not happening. Second, he's so cheeky that I want to hang him by his toenails inside down in a well at damn (the threat that my band teacher used on my class). And maybe even whack him with a bat while I'm at it. Third, he's voiced by Hoshi Souichirou. Let me make it clear that I love Hoshi Souichirou. I loved him in Gundam SEED, and whenever I think about piloting a Gundam, his voice immediately pops into mind. I just have issues with his high-pitched shouta voice. I hate it, and I feel like tearing the head off a stuffed animal every time I hear it. And fourth, the only man in my life who is called Youji is Kudou Youji from Weiß Kreuz as voiced by Miki Shinichirou.
Seya Masato is Yuuki's sen'pai at work and kind and supportive of her. She talks music with him one night, about the indie band "Liberta" (freedom in Spanish), but he tells her that he doesn't particularly like them. He later gives her a copy of their CD, knowing her interest in them. Yuuki finds the lyrics a little wistful and melancholic, but ultimately the message is carpe diem for the youths of the world.
When the two of them are about to have dinner together after their shifts ends, a woman calls out to Seya. Sakurada Yuriko has not seen him for a long time, asks him what he has been doing since, and whether he plans to go back. He becomes frustrated at these questions and shoves her out of anger. Yuuki immediately moves in to stop him, Yuriko tells him she'll come back another time, and they take a rain check on their dinner plans. Things get a little cold between the two of them, but they continue to work together as if nothing happened. When Yuuki's class rank goes up to twenty-six after midterms, she credits diligent studying while listening to Liberta. She off-handedly mentions that she would love to write a song of her own, and Seya immediately tells her that it's incredibly hard and similar to putting all one's self into it. Yuriko stops by again, but since Seya isn't there, she asks Yuuki to give him a letter. When he receives it, he angrily rips it up. When Yuriko comes to see his reaction, he does not show up for work. She ends up waiting for Yuuki to get off work to talk with her. She reveals that Seya was the vocalist of Liberta. They were about to be signed by a major record company, but the management wanted to change the direction of the band and simply make a cash-cow out of them. Seya couldn't make good music under those conditions, the record deal fell through, the band broke up, and he more or less disappeared.
When Yuuki's rank goes up to nineteen, Keisuke, Kanou, Kazuki, and she goes out to relieve stress at the game center. When she spots Seya in the crowds of people, she runs after him and drags him back to the convenience store to apologize to the owner for having skipped out on his shifts without notice. They get together around New Year's, either for nabe or to visit a temple (as is the tradition during New Year's), after which he asks her why she doesn't talk about Liberta with him. She simply tells him that she would be delighted if he started singing again, but only if he wanted to.
At the end of January, when her exams are over and right after a shift at work, Seya confesses to her that he wants to make music again, but he's afraid of letting people down. Yuuki gives him a memo from Yuriko that contains all of the Liberta band members' information and that they are waiting for him. He becomes inspired and asks her to name the new band he will make. She chooses hope, "Esperanza."
After graduation, Yuuki and the Scooby gang (Keisuke, Teruya, Kazuki, Himeno) go to a live show of Esperanza, where Seya calls out to Yuuki for reviving his music and confesses his love. Yuriko has also sent an invitation to her wedding with a request that Seya sing a song for her, but also written in her hand is that she wants Yuuki to catch the wedding bouquet, which she is too embarrassed to show Seya. Voiced by Inoue Kazuhiko.
Seya possibly has the least annoying route out of all the guys. But considering how annoying some of them are, that's not a big accomplishment. I mostly enjoyed this route for its lack of childish drama and more character development. Well, that and Inoue Kazuhiko's voice.
Narusawa Yuuya is Yuuki's natural science teacher. He's very kind and much more understanding of the playfulness of the teenage mind. Just before Golden Week starts, Sumeragi (her homeroom teacher) warns the students not to go out and play. Despite her warning, Kazuki and Yuuki go out and are almost immediately caught by her. They are about to apologize when Narusawa steps in and says that they were with him, saving the two of them from Sumeragi's lectures. They are both thankful for his help, and Yuuki softens up to him, in spite of her distrust of adults due to her parents' separation.
In an effort to cheer her up, Himeno Haruka lends her a novel written by Toono Runa, called "Kokoro no Kakera" (Pieces of a Heart). It is about a high school heroine whose parents left her behind and life now simply passes her home. Yuuki reads it all in one night, very touched by the comparison to her own life. Himeno tells her the rest of Toono Runa's novels are published through the net, and Yuuki is resolved to buy a computer and ends up asking Narusawa to help her choose one. She ends up choosing a laptop and admits that her primary motivation is to use it to read internet novels written by Toono Runa. She goes on about how "Kokoro no Kakera" is similar to her life, and Narusawa catches onto her living situation. Living alone is against school regulations without permission, and he does not agree to keep her secret, but is willing to let it pass if she lets him check up on her.
When school starts up again, she goes to tell Narusawa that she has read all fifty volumes of his works. He suggests to her that she write her own story, and she writes about her own situation. When Kazuki and Himeno find out, the latter convinces her to submit it to a contest, which she wins to much acclaim. Unfortunately, with this acclaim, the school realizes that Yuuki's living situation is in violation of regulations. Her parents are brought into a meeting at school and try to rectify this by having her choose which parent to live with right then and there, but she refuses. Narusawa defends her decision to live alone, as she is a third year student in the middle of university exams and does not need any change to her life that may aggravate her state of mind, which the school and her parents accept.
A publishing house soon approaches Yuuki with an offer to publish her book and essays, but she is unsure, as she doesn't believe her works are worth much. When she invites Narusawa out for Hatsumode and discusses her possible publishing deal, he tells her that he publishes online because he simply wants to write, not to please the paying public. She confesses to him that she likes him as Toono Runa, as her teacher, and as a man. He admits that he likes her, too. After the graduation ceremony, she gives him two of her newly published books, one for him and one for Toono, and he gives her a self-published copy of his book, telling her that she has grown and come to trust adults. In the epilogue, Yuuki continues to write, publish, and even goes on TV. Voiced by Tobita Nobuo.
I like Narusawa's route, since it never falls into the pitfalls of a teacher/student route, with all the sobbing and melodrama. But he simply isn't an exciting and heart-throbbing character. He's a nice guy. And that's it. I have little love for his character design and voice actor. Also, he never opens his opens. Like Pokemon's Brock. And you should never trust someone who doesn't open his eyes. One thing I do find interesting is that there isn't much of a love route, for all their confessing. Considering the year it was first published, maybe it was too risqué too depict a teacher/student relationship? How far do Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side go with Himuro?
Male Protagonist Walkthrough
As the male protagonist, Fujii Yuuki, instead of your parents being separated, they are working abroad and you are now living alone in an apartment for the last year of high school with the school's knowledge and permission.
Himeno Haruka is a fellow third year in Yuuki's class. She is technically two years older than all the students in the class, but that is because she has been in the hospital for the past year and a half and is only starting her third year of high school now. She is incredibly sweet and a bit naive, old fashioned and can't quite read the atmosphere of modern teenagers, can't cook to save her life and a klutz so bad that the class that gets him to look after him.
During the summer vacation, the whole Scooby gang go out to the beach to play. Himeno collapses at the end of the day and he escorts her home. The two of them agree to a movie three weeks later, and though he waits for over three hours, Himeno never shows. On the first day of the new semester, the gang finds out that she was hospitalized the night before she was to meet Yuuki for the movie. He visits her every day to give her the class notes, but during one late night, he overhears a doctor and a nurse saying that if she has one more attack, she will die. Burdened with this knowledge, he stops visiting her for three weeks and only continues his visits when he realizes that he misses her too much.
Himeno is saddened by how long it might take for her to be discharged, and in an attempt at cheering her up, he suggests that they go out for Christmas when she gets better. She reveals to him that she will undergo a surgery that will cure her condition. With his promise of taking her out on Christmas, she is encouraged to get better soon. She asks him to not forget her even if she dies and to call her by her given name, Haruka. She even confesses her feelings for him.
She falls into a critical condition a few days before her operation. Yuuki ends up standing vigil with her parents during and after her operation. On Christmas day, he visits her despite that she is still not conscious yet. He talks about how it is Christmas and recounts her belief that if a girl were to receive silver ring from her lover before her 20th birthday, they would be happy forever. He presents her with a silver ring brought with his earnings from his part-time job. It's a big, but she wakes up and and tells him that it probably fits her thumb. He is ecstatic and confesses his feelings. In the epilogue, it turns out that Yuuki has failed his university exams, but it's alright as Himeno has to redo his third year anyways, so they will study together. Voiced by Nagasaki Moe.
Himeno is basically your sick girl in the girl. Sweet, kind, naive, perfect material for an angel. This is possibly the most boring route of all. It's all so over melodramatic that I just can't take it seriously. I'd rather be forced to play Key's Kanon, please. Ultimately, she's a sweet girl, but good God, no more sick girls, please. And hasn't anyone noticed that the sick girls ALWAYS get sicker when the male protagonist go after them instead of the other healthy girls?
Kousaka Kazuki is your childhood friend, one who is close enough to you that she knows where the emergency key to your apartment is and even uses it to give you a wake-up call in person on the first day of school. She is the school's track star and plans to become a professional track star after graduation. And unbeknownst to Yuuki, she has long had a crush on him.
One day, when Yuuki watches her practice, she becomes depressed that her time isn't getting better. He looks up different running styles and methods and tries to convince her to try it out, but she lashes out at him until he tells her that she is putting too much pressure on herself. She sees it his way and accepts his help. During the summer vacation, they go to the beach along with Keisuke. Although Kazuki nearly drowns, she tells Yuuki that she had fun with him. On the first day of the second semester, she uses his emergency key to enter his place to wake him up again. He lets her keep it and she contemplates how special the gesture is, like the instances when they ate lunch together in the park. At school, their class cheers Kazuki on as their ace runner for the upcoming athletic festival. She asks Yuuki to be her partner for the folk dance if she wins, and he agrees.
One day, she is told by Sumeragi that the Sagami Corporation is discontinuing their promotion of track and field, which means that she has lost her place in their corporate sponsored track team. Her dream is to run with Miyamoto, an Olympic-level track star who inspired her to take up track and field, and she believes that racing professionally immediately after graduation is the only way to do so, despite Sumeragi saying that various universities want her to join their teams. With Kazuki depressed to the point of not training, Yuuki takes her to the beach to talk sense into her. She says that if she's not running beside Miyamoto, there's simply no point. He responses that if the normally bright and cheerful Kazuki isn't there, he'd rather die and walks straight into the ocean and nearly gets washed out. Tearful, she goes in after him, despite her fear of the ocean and swimming, and tells him that she'll continue chasing her dream.
They affirm their love for each other during New Year's and officially become a couple. Kazuki is wanted by every sports university and ends up going to the one Miyamoto attended, who comes once a month to coach her. Yuuki follows her to the same university and is studying sports medicine. Voiced by Kuwatani Natsuko.
Every since e'tude prologue, I have never trusted nor liked the female childhood friend of any male protagonist. Kazuki falls into the very annoying pitfall of having the classic childhood friend / lover complex. She is irritatingly needy, but not as bad as Hagiwara Asami. I will give her props for having somewhat interesting drama in her route. Instead of pining over Yuuki, she mourns over the temporary loss of her path to achieve her dream. While this route isn't bad, I gagged at the amount of cheese in it. I'm just not into childhood friend / lover routes anymore. Once you've done one, you've done them all.
Kagami Chizuru is Sakurazuka High School's mysterious, beautiful genius. Despite Kanou Teruya having the top score in the school, she is known to be a genius without paying any attention in class.
Yuuki first meets her when she walks into convenience store he works at to buy batteries for her personal safety alarm. The store didn't accept credit stores, so he lent her money to pay. She pays him back the next day at lunch, and he invites her for lunch in the cafeteria and walks her home. He realizes that Kagami isn't as mysterious as said to be, simply that no one is willing to approach her quiet atmosphere. With more lunches and walks home together, he discovers that she is a gifted tinker and has a love of mathematics. She wants to follow in the footsteps of Carl Friedrich Gauss, a German mathematician, but it's unlikely her overprotective widowed father will allow her to go off by herself.
During summer vacation, Yuuki picks Kagami up at her house before heading to the amusement park, but her father, a stern-faced man, questions his identity, grades, parents, and college prospects before he lets the two of them go. When she tutors him in trigonometry, he sees how much she loves math and her role model, Gauss. He tries to bring up her father, but she slightly resents him for only ever wanting her to be quiet and mature, so she has only ever studied to please him.
One day, he overheads a conversation between Kagami and Sumeragi that she will be going abroad for university. It is a four year program in Germany, and she will be leaving immediately after graduation. Their relationship becomes strained after that revelation, and they openly admit that they will miss each other and agree to go out on Christmas. She ends up sneaking out without her father's knowledge, and when he escorts her home, her father forbids her from meeting with him again. She emotionally lashes out at him, saying that he has never really cared for her. Yuuki sees through both their facades and tells them so: Kagami has been very lonely since her mother's death, and her father doesn't know how to make her happy. With the father-daughter relationship on the mends, she confesses that she likes him as more than a friend. He finds that he can't answer her, because he doesn't want to influence her decision whether or not to go to Germany.
At graduation, Kagami informs him of her decision to study in Germany, which he then feels free to confesses his feelings for her. They agree to keep in touch and to see each other again. In the epilogue, we find out that she completes the four year program in two and comes back to Japan for him. Voiced by Senoo Kumi.
The quiet, mysterious, misunderstood beauty. Another stereotype. Well, at least, Kagami is a tolerable character. One of the issues I have with her route is that it lacks the drama that Kazuki and Himeno had in their routes. Sure, Kagami has miscommunication with her father and is confused whether to go to Germany, but it is nowhere near as dramatic as being deathly sick and losing one's lifelong dream. It's aight, but not good.
Kusakabe Ruria is a first year girl who is the ultimate girly girl, complete with the hair ties, frilly dresses, and high-pitched squeal. She begins the school year by sending Yuuki so many anonymous flowery confession letters that he thinks he's being pranked. Eventually, Ruria's fan club corners him and drags him out to meet her. She confesses her feelings for him and asks him to be her boyfriend; he declines, but after some tears from her and some threats from her fan club, he agrees to get to know her first.
She surprises him at the convenience store during one of his shifts; he is annoyed, but kindly explains to her that her presence would be a bother to him while he's working. She's sad, but takes it to heart and leaves. He begins to think that she may not be annoying and that she may be reasonable. With more time spent with her at school and on dates, he learns that she has a very nuanced view of love and dating (gathered from manga and dramas); her pets consist (but not limited to) toads, snakes, and iguanas; and her family is super rich. When Yuuki visits Ruria's house, he meets her mother, who looks super young and beautiful, and her father, who looks like a mountain man complete with the unshaven beard and plaid shirts but is the fashion designer behind the sweet and frilly label "Sweet Angel." Her father, super protective of Ruria, starts quizzing him and threatening him, but Ruria stops him before he goes too far. She apologizes to Yuuki for her father's behavior, and offhandedly mentions that she used to hate her father's frilly clothes, but now loves it.
On their walks home together after school, Ruria reveals that before Sakurazuka High School, she attended an ojousama elevator school, which makes he wonder why she went through the trouble to test into Sakurazuka. Eventually, she tells him that she first met him when he was in the fifth grade and she in third. She really wanted to play with the neighborhood kids, but instead was bullied because of the frilly clothes her parents dressed her in. Yuuki stepped in and stopped the bullying, which she has held close to her heart ever since and influenced her to apply for Sakurazuka.
One day, Ruria isn't at school and he finds the day to the too silent, dull, and grey. He later finds out from her fan club that her father is hospitalized. He goes to visit her at the hospital and to reassure her that all will be fine. However, she still doesn't come to school for a while, and she surprises him just before his shift with a request from her father to meet him. He agrees to skip his shift at the convenience store and go to the hospital. Her father, despite being deathly sick and hooked up to all sorts of machines, quizzes him again, but it turns out to be pretense and a test of character for him. He storms out and Ruria follows, not knowing that this was all set up. He believes that she wasn't involved and still cares for her.
At graduation, Ruria is sad that he's graduating without her, but resolves to go to the same university as him. In the epilogue, despite Yuuki going to college, Ruria somehow gets her hands on a key to his apartment and comes over every day to cook for him. Her father even starts a new label called "Dark Angel" and offers him a job. Voiced by Koyama Kimiko.
I really, really hated her when she pops up in the other characters' routes, but I grew to tolerate and like her in her own route. She's a lot less annoying when you get to know her, but she is still outwardly annoying. Unfortunately, her route is like Kagami's -- it lacks drama. It's just not that interesting.
Sumeragi Kano is Yuuki's homeroom teacher and a serious teacher who is truly concerned for her students, but he is slightly afraid of. When he oversleeps and ditches the first day of school, she calls and reprimands him for his behavior, as the school has given him permission to live alone, so he must be on his best behavior or the school might withdraw their permission. In addition, he is coerced to attend the tea ceremony club by Himeno, the advisor being Sumeragi, but he actually starts to enjoy it.
One day, he has to skip a club meeting because he has a shift at the convenience store. However, Sumeragi catches him just before he leaves, demanding an explanation. He tries to fob off some excuse, but ends up admitting that he has a part-time job. He tells her that living alone is harder than he thought with the expenses. He didn't want to worry his parents and ask for more money, so he got himself a job and appreciates how hard work can be so satisfying. She is extremely moved by his explanation and decides to get him official permission for his part-time job.
During the last tea ceremony of the first semester, she leaves in the middle to answer her cellphone. He goes after her and eavesdrops. She is talking to her boyfriend of five years and tells him that she'll be able to meet with him as soon as summer vacation starts. On the last day of his summer remedial classes (he failed his exams), he bumps into her near the train station. It turns out that she had a minor car accident and her car is in the shop. He offers to carry her groceries home, and she offers him tea at her apartment, where he finds omiai pictures. She immediately gets flustered and gets him to put it down.
During the second semester, a lot of people are coming down with the cold and it turns out that only he and Sumeragi are able to attend club. With just the two of them, she ends up revealing her parents believe that she should marry early and want her to quit her job and find a nice man. When he tells her to tell her parents she doesn't need a lover, she ends the conversation and kicks him out of the room. The next day, despite the other members still being out, he thinks that club is still on with Sumeragi. When she doesn't show, he barges into the faculty room to ask why and she tells that it would be a waste to have a tea ceremony when it's just the two of them. He leaves, but angry and confused with her behavior. It turns out that she was dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of the summer vacation, and she is still sad over it. He tells her it's okay to cry, and she gives him permission to call her by her given name.
By this time, Yuuki realizes that he likes Sumeragi as a woman. He starts calling Sumeragi by her given name, Kano, at school, and she coldly asks him to address her properly as his teacher. With tips from Kazuki, he plans to win her affections by walking her to school every morning. But that plans fails, he gets tickets to the amusement park for December 31 and invites her. She declines at first, but eventually gives in. They have a good time there, and they go on the carousel. She sadly reminisces about her ex, but he tells her that he will be the man to make her happy. He confesses his feelings for her, and she tells him she likes him, too.
On the first day to school, he is giddy with job, but rumors are going around that Sumeragi got engaged to a man her parents introduced her to. After school, he confronts her and she tells him that everything she said at the amusement park were lives. He is heartbroken, but he goes to her place at night. She tells him that the real reason is that she is his teacher and he is her student. He tells her he loves her and vice versa, and she agrees to break off the engagement for him. At graduation, he introduces her as his girlfriend to the Scooby gang. They are surprised, but very happy for him. In the epilogue, Yuuki gets into a better university than he expected, which make Sumeragi thrilled. However, she makes him study whenever they are together, but he doesn't mind as long as they are together. Voiced by Itou Miki.
Sumeragi's route has the requisite drama in her route: the tension between him and her, the issue of her being a teacher and his being a student, Yuuki acting both childish and mature. Unfortunately, Yuuki acts like the stupidest bastard in the world. Why? He carelessly uses Sumeragi's given name at school, during school hours, when anyone could be listening in. You dumb hick, you can like her as much as you want, but if you're going to pursue a relationship with a teacher, keep it on the down-low.
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Thank you, God, for making this Takuyo's last dual protagonist game. Again, I feel like I'm ragging on Takuyo's games again, but I swear I'm not deliberately doing it. It's just not an interesting, cohesive game. It simply goes through the final year of high school of a boy or girl, and it's simply boring. There's no overreaching plot that ties the two protagonists together. With e'tude prologue, when the two protagonists, Tatsuya and Hitomi, have a love story that can be told from two different perspectives. With for Symphony, everything is too disconnected and too disjointed.
Worse yet, even within each protagonist's routes, neither character is particularly deep. You learn more about each character whose route you do than you do about the protagonist you play in all the routes. Maybe I'm too influenced by today's games, where they focus on not just the plot, but the protagonist as well. Obviously, I've played too much Otomate games, because those are super story-driven (that is unless they figure out it's a great cash-cow and start pushing crappy games with no story and bad art).
The art isn't super gorgeous, but it's early 00's art -- what can you do?
Ultimately, I can't suggest this game to anyone unless they are trying to play through every single otome game in the history of the world. It's not that interesting and lacks a cohesive story, which is so very, very important.
Holy shiiiiit. It's been a long time since I've updated. I doubt that I'll post anything of personal value anytime soon, especially soon I got myself a Tumblr. Anyway, here's another game review.
You are forewarned that there are spoilers ahead.
for Symphony ~with all one's heart~ Portable is a dual protagonist romantic adventure released by Takuyo for the PSP in 2007. It was originally released for the PC in 2003 and re-released for the PS2 in 2005.
Similar to e'tude prologue ~揺る動く心のかたち~ ポータブル, it features two protagonists, a male and female, both named "Fujii Yuuki." However, unlike e'tude prologue, both protagonists are faceless and when you choose to play as one, you replace the other.
You start the game at the beginning of your third year at Sakurazuka High School. You play through the entirety of the third year, separated into four chapters: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The first two chapters compromises the common route, while the last two are character-specific. The system is your basic visual novels: at certain times in the game, you are given a selection of answers from which you must choose one as your response.
I believe in the superiority of the female gender, so I will start with the introduction of the female character and her routes.
Female Protagonist Walkthrough
The female character is an only child living alone in her family's home. Her parents have recently separated and moved out, and to pick up the slack, she has a secret part-time job at a convenience store to supplement her living costs.
Arima Keisuke is Yuuki's childhood friend, going all the way back to kindergarten. He's like your typical RPG action hero; energetic, headstrong, not dumb, but not book-smart either, has a little difficulty expressing his emotions, and just a tad bit indecisive. Entering his third year of high school, he doesn't know what he wants to do after graduation, and his indecision plagues him through the year. Yuuki encourages him to find something he's passionate about, and he becomes heartened by it.
When Kanou Teruya, Keisuke's best friend, confesses to Yuuki at the beginning of the second semester, she is surprised. Keisuke witnesses this and gives his own confession when he walks her home. However, she is distraught by both, because she sees the former as an important friend and the latter as a childhood friend. The two of them know of each other's confession to her and ask for her response while working at the school festival. She can't give one, because it would mean that she has to pick one over the other and she doesn't want to hurt anyone. When her parents divorced, both wanted her to go with them. She didn't want to pick, but ended up picking her father in a panic. Seeing the hurt in her mother's eyes, she didn't go with her father either. Now she's alone in the house. Keisuke tells her that one can only be hurt if they allow themselves to be hurt. She realizes that she cares for them both and asks for more time. Kanou suggests that she give them an answer at graduation.
Over winter vacation, after they spend a day at the game center relieving the stress from studying, some thugs start to pick a fight with them. Keisuke takes them on by himself to give Kanou and Yuuki a chance to get away. She insists that going back to help Keisuke and brings him back to her house to fix him up. Kanou takes her off to the side and tells her that he's backing out, seeing her dedication to Keisuke. At graduation, Yuuki gives Keisuke her answer and happily ever after, more or less. Keisuke ends up studying law in college and became a policeman. Voiced by Yuuki Hiro.
Keisuke's route is not dull, but it is absolutely not exciting in any way. It's likely to put you to sleep, but it's not bad. You know, it's meh. It's not great, but you know it could be so much worse. One thing I did love was Yuuki Hiro as the voice actor. I mostly associate him with Weiß Kreuz and Angelique, so it was a nice breath of fresh air hearing him in a game I haven't play yet. Still, I shouldn't have been surprised, since this game was made in 2003, when he was much more prolific.
Kanou Teruya is Yuuki's classmate and Arima Keisuke's best friend. He's pretty much the prince of the school, with top grades, a pleasant personality, good looks, and his own damn fan club. His father passed away when he was younger, and his mother is the sole breadwinner. He wanted to start working straight out of junior high, but his mother insisted on him going to high school and college, so he is studying hard in school to go to college and support his mother when he graduates.
Yuuki starts to spend a good amount of time with him, just studying and walking home together. He tells her one day that he is actually on a scholarship that is supposed to be kept hush-hush with several conditions: he must place in the top three for midterms and finals; have a flawless record; willingly be used in promotional activities for the school; and get into a good university. Having lost his father, he can also tell that when Yuuki talks about how she hates her parents, she's simply hurt that that they divorced and left her all alone in the house.
His fan club soon notices how much time they spend together, and Kousaka Kazuki, Yuuki's best friend, tells her so and warns her to beware of the fan club. They start pulling shit like stealing her shoes and hiding them on the roof, ruining her math textbook and gym clothes, and taking her school slippers out of her shoe locker. After seeing some of these pranks in action, Kazuki insists that Yuuki tell the teachers or Kanou to get the fan club to back off, or else she would. Yuuki begs her not to, as she believes that it would implicate Kanou and take away his scholarship or he might feel responsible and leave the school. She says that simply seeing him everyday makes her happy, and it was worthy the bullying.
After working together on the school festival, Kanou confesses his feelings to her and tells her that he will wait until after university exams for her to consider her own feelings and her response. The fan club calls her up to the roof some time later to get her to stay away from him. They tell that that they like him, because he's cool, kind, and number oven in the school. Yuuki tells them that liking is fine and all, but all the pranks won't make her change her relationship with him and it's ultimately bad for Kanou. The ringleader seems to be moved by her speech and backs down. At their graduation, she reciprocates his feelings and go to the same national university. Voiced by Toriumi Kousuke.
Ugh. I was thinking of keeping the game around after Keisuke's route, since it seemed like an excellent example of late-90's/early-00's otome game. But I hate fangirls who pull stupid pranks just because the guy they like is interested in a girl who is not one of them. I like Kanou and Yuuki's relationship, but I hate her spineless attitude about the bullying. Yes, I know she's keeping silent, because she don't want to get him in trouble, but surely you could have told on them without mentioning Kanou. Please, where are my heroines with a spine that is as a strong as a sword and actually has a sword to ward off would-be bullies? Also, with all the bullying, I expected it to build up to a brilliant, dramatic scene, but all they give me is some posing and speeches. Please, if I wanted posing and speeches, I would watch same old school Sailor Moon AND they would have some nice drama to top it off.
Kousaka Youji is Kousaka Kazuki's younger brother and a junior high 3rd year. Yuuki has known him since she was in 3rd grade and he in kindergarten. He's incredibly cheeky with little regard of how some of his actions could turn out, and he has liked Yuuki for forever.
Whenever she visits Kazuki at the Kousaka residence, Youji is always there to tell her he likes her and to ask her to go out with him. She tries very hard to let him down gently with the "I like you, but…" line, but he doesn't take the hint. He's happy with the "I like you" part and convinced that she will come to like him. Whenever she and Kazuki go out, he tags along, because he deliberately listens in on Kazuki's phone calls to know if the two of them are going out. Even when Kazuki goes to Yuuki's house to study, he tags along and even insists on seeing her room. AND SHE LETS HIM INTO HER ROOM. WHAT THE WHAT? She's a teenaged girl living in a house all by herself and she lets a boy up in her room? I don't care if her best friend is there and that he is her younger brother, there is an entire house for her to study in with two other people and she chooses her room? I… I can't. I just can't. He confesses and asks her out again. She gives him a pity affirmation, because what the hell? She's got never better to do. During summer vacation, Kazuki and Yuuki go to the beach, with Youji tagging along without permission. And when Yuuki visits Kazuki at her house to help her with her homework, he starts calling himself her boyfriend. She lets him continue with his little delusion, because again, what the hell. When school begins again, he goes Sakurazuka High School, where Yuuki attends, and ambushes her to "walk home with her" and "go on dates."
One night, after her part time job, she goes to the bookstore and sees Youji with another girl. She overhears him convincing the girl to go to Sakurazuka, which is the high school he's aiming for, and Yuuki runs away feeling hurt. She sees them again after school and runs off again. When Kazuki meets her at her house late, the former tells her that these feelings are of her feeling jealous and that she likes Youji, and not in a little brother kind of way. Yuuki ends up deciding to let go of Youji and being extremely cold and rude to him the next time she sees him. She feels guilty about her behavior and apologizes to him, but instill breaks things off between the two of them. Days later, when Youji understands that she's angry about the other girl, he reassures her that she is a dude friend to him with dude interests and that it simply can't be compared to the ten years he has liked her for.
On the day of her university exams, she looks out her window and see that Youji wrote "Good luck" on the road with chalk. She finds him before her exams and tells him to meet her at the park at night. She agrees to be his girlfriend as he has given her the courage to face life and her future. She goes to college, and he goes to Sakurazuka aspiring to do work in the arts. Voiced by Hoshi Souichirou.
I find it really hard to fully explain the extent of my visceral hatred towards Kousaka Youji. Let's start with his stalker issues. He uses his sister's outing to stalk Yuuki and insists, no matter how many times she says "I like you, but," that she will come around and like him the way he likes her. No way. Not happening. Second, he's so cheeky that I want to hang him by his toenails inside down in a well at damn (the threat that my band teacher used on my class). And maybe even whack him with a bat while I'm at it. Third, he's voiced by Hoshi Souichirou. Let me make it clear that I love Hoshi Souichirou. I loved him in Gundam SEED, and whenever I think about piloting a Gundam, his voice immediately pops into mind. I just have issues with his high-pitched shouta voice. I hate it, and I feel like tearing the head off a stuffed animal every time I hear it. And fourth, the only man in my life who is called Youji is Kudou Youji from Weiß Kreuz as voiced by Miki Shinichirou.
Seya Masato is Yuuki's sen'pai at work and kind and supportive of her. She talks music with him one night, about the indie band "Liberta" (freedom in Spanish), but he tells her that he doesn't particularly like them. He later gives her a copy of their CD, knowing her interest in them. Yuuki finds the lyrics a little wistful and melancholic, but ultimately the message is carpe diem for the youths of the world.
When the two of them are about to have dinner together after their shifts ends, a woman calls out to Seya. Sakurada Yuriko has not seen him for a long time, asks him what he has been doing since, and whether he plans to go back. He becomes frustrated at these questions and shoves her out of anger. Yuuki immediately moves in to stop him, Yuriko tells him she'll come back another time, and they take a rain check on their dinner plans. Things get a little cold between the two of them, but they continue to work together as if nothing happened. When Yuuki's class rank goes up to twenty-six after midterms, she credits diligent studying while listening to Liberta. She off-handedly mentions that she would love to write a song of her own, and Seya immediately tells her that it's incredibly hard and similar to putting all one's self into it. Yuriko stops by again, but since Seya isn't there, she asks Yuuki to give him a letter. When he receives it, he angrily rips it up. When Yuriko comes to see his reaction, he does not show up for work. She ends up waiting for Yuuki to get off work to talk with her. She reveals that Seya was the vocalist of Liberta. They were about to be signed by a major record company, but the management wanted to change the direction of the band and simply make a cash-cow out of them. Seya couldn't make good music under those conditions, the record deal fell through, the band broke up, and he more or less disappeared.
When Yuuki's rank goes up to nineteen, Keisuke, Kanou, Kazuki, and she goes out to relieve stress at the game center. When she spots Seya in the crowds of people, she runs after him and drags him back to the convenience store to apologize to the owner for having skipped out on his shifts without notice. They get together around New Year's, either for nabe or to visit a temple (as is the tradition during New Year's), after which he asks her why she doesn't talk about Liberta with him. She simply tells him that she would be delighted if he started singing again, but only if he wanted to.
At the end of January, when her exams are over and right after a shift at work, Seya confesses to her that he wants to make music again, but he's afraid of letting people down. Yuuki gives him a memo from Yuriko that contains all of the Liberta band members' information and that they are waiting for him. He becomes inspired and asks her to name the new band he will make. She chooses hope, "Esperanza."
After graduation, Yuuki and the Scooby gang (Keisuke, Teruya, Kazuki, Himeno) go to a live show of Esperanza, where Seya calls out to Yuuki for reviving his music and confesses his love. Yuriko has also sent an invitation to her wedding with a request that Seya sing a song for her, but also written in her hand is that she wants Yuuki to catch the wedding bouquet, which she is too embarrassed to show Seya. Voiced by Inoue Kazuhiko.
Seya possibly has the least annoying route out of all the guys. But considering how annoying some of them are, that's not a big accomplishment. I mostly enjoyed this route for its lack of childish drama and more character development. Well, that and Inoue Kazuhiko's voice.
Narusawa Yuuya is Yuuki's natural science teacher. He's very kind and much more understanding of the playfulness of the teenage mind. Just before Golden Week starts, Sumeragi (her homeroom teacher) warns the students not to go out and play. Despite her warning, Kazuki and Yuuki go out and are almost immediately caught by her. They are about to apologize when Narusawa steps in and says that they were with him, saving the two of them from Sumeragi's lectures. They are both thankful for his help, and Yuuki softens up to him, in spite of her distrust of adults due to her parents' separation.
In an effort to cheer her up, Himeno Haruka lends her a novel written by Toono Runa, called "Kokoro no Kakera" (Pieces of a Heart). It is about a high school heroine whose parents left her behind and life now simply passes her home. Yuuki reads it all in one night, very touched by the comparison to her own life. Himeno tells her the rest of Toono Runa's novels are published through the net, and Yuuki is resolved to buy a computer and ends up asking Narusawa to help her choose one. She ends up choosing a laptop and admits that her primary motivation is to use it to read internet novels written by Toono Runa. She goes on about how "Kokoro no Kakera" is similar to her life, and Narusawa catches onto her living situation. Living alone is against school regulations without permission, and he does not agree to keep her secret, but is willing to let it pass if she lets him check up on her.
When school starts up again, she goes to tell Narusawa that she has read all fifty volumes of his works. He suggests to her that she write her own story, and she writes about her own situation. When Kazuki and Himeno find out, the latter convinces her to submit it to a contest, which she wins to much acclaim. Unfortunately, with this acclaim, the school realizes that Yuuki's living situation is in violation of regulations. Her parents are brought into a meeting at school and try to rectify this by having her choose which parent to live with right then and there, but she refuses. Narusawa defends her decision to live alone, as she is a third year student in the middle of university exams and does not need any change to her life that may aggravate her state of mind, which the school and her parents accept.
A publishing house soon approaches Yuuki with an offer to publish her book and essays, but she is unsure, as she doesn't believe her works are worth much. When she invites Narusawa out for Hatsumode and discusses her possible publishing deal, he tells her that he publishes online because he simply wants to write, not to please the paying public. She confesses to him that she likes him as Toono Runa, as her teacher, and as a man. He admits that he likes her, too. After the graduation ceremony, she gives him two of her newly published books, one for him and one for Toono, and he gives her a self-published copy of his book, telling her that she has grown and come to trust adults. In the epilogue, Yuuki continues to write, publish, and even goes on TV. Voiced by Tobita Nobuo.
I like Narusawa's route, since it never falls into the pitfalls of a teacher/student route, with all the sobbing and melodrama. But he simply isn't an exciting and heart-throbbing character. He's a nice guy. And that's it. I have little love for his character design and voice actor. Also, he never opens his opens. Like Pokemon's Brock. And you should never trust someone who doesn't open his eyes. One thing I do find interesting is that there isn't much of a love route, for all their confessing. Considering the year it was first published, maybe it was too risqué too depict a teacher/student relationship? How far do Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side go with Himuro?
Male Protagonist Walkthrough
As the male protagonist, Fujii Yuuki, instead of your parents being separated, they are working abroad and you are now living alone in an apartment for the last year of high school with the school's knowledge and permission.
Himeno Haruka is a fellow third year in Yuuki's class. She is technically two years older than all the students in the class, but that is because she has been in the hospital for the past year and a half and is only starting her third year of high school now. She is incredibly sweet and a bit naive, old fashioned and can't quite read the atmosphere of modern teenagers, can't cook to save her life and a klutz so bad that the class that gets him to look after him.
During the summer vacation, the whole Scooby gang go out to the beach to play. Himeno collapses at the end of the day and he escorts her home. The two of them agree to a movie three weeks later, and though he waits for over three hours, Himeno never shows. On the first day of the new semester, the gang finds out that she was hospitalized the night before she was to meet Yuuki for the movie. He visits her every day to give her the class notes, but during one late night, he overhears a doctor and a nurse saying that if she has one more attack, she will die. Burdened with this knowledge, he stops visiting her for three weeks and only continues his visits when he realizes that he misses her too much.
Himeno is saddened by how long it might take for her to be discharged, and in an attempt at cheering her up, he suggests that they go out for Christmas when she gets better. She reveals to him that she will undergo a surgery that will cure her condition. With his promise of taking her out on Christmas, she is encouraged to get better soon. She asks him to not forget her even if she dies and to call her by her given name, Haruka. She even confesses her feelings for him.
She falls into a critical condition a few days before her operation. Yuuki ends up standing vigil with her parents during and after her operation. On Christmas day, he visits her despite that she is still not conscious yet. He talks about how it is Christmas and recounts her belief that if a girl were to receive silver ring from her lover before her 20th birthday, they would be happy forever. He presents her with a silver ring brought with his earnings from his part-time job. It's a big, but she wakes up and and tells him that it probably fits her thumb. He is ecstatic and confesses his feelings. In the epilogue, it turns out that Yuuki has failed his university exams, but it's alright as Himeno has to redo his third year anyways, so they will study together. Voiced by Nagasaki Moe.
Himeno is basically your sick girl in the girl. Sweet, kind, naive, perfect material for an angel. This is possibly the most boring route of all. It's all so over melodramatic that I just can't take it seriously. I'd rather be forced to play Key's Kanon, please. Ultimately, she's a sweet girl, but good God, no more sick girls, please. And hasn't anyone noticed that the sick girls ALWAYS get sicker when the male protagonist go after them instead of the other healthy girls?
Kousaka Kazuki is your childhood friend, one who is close enough to you that she knows where the emergency key to your apartment is and even uses it to give you a wake-up call in person on the first day of school. She is the school's track star and plans to become a professional track star after graduation. And unbeknownst to Yuuki, she has long had a crush on him.
One day, when Yuuki watches her practice, she becomes depressed that her time isn't getting better. He looks up different running styles and methods and tries to convince her to try it out, but she lashes out at him until he tells her that she is putting too much pressure on herself. She sees it his way and accepts his help. During the summer vacation, they go to the beach along with Keisuke. Although Kazuki nearly drowns, she tells Yuuki that she had fun with him. On the first day of the second semester, she uses his emergency key to enter his place to wake him up again. He lets her keep it and she contemplates how special the gesture is, like the instances when they ate lunch together in the park. At school, their class cheers Kazuki on as their ace runner for the upcoming athletic festival. She asks Yuuki to be her partner for the folk dance if she wins, and he agrees.
One day, she is told by Sumeragi that the Sagami Corporation is discontinuing their promotion of track and field, which means that she has lost her place in their corporate sponsored track team. Her dream is to run with Miyamoto, an Olympic-level track star who inspired her to take up track and field, and she believes that racing professionally immediately after graduation is the only way to do so, despite Sumeragi saying that various universities want her to join their teams. With Kazuki depressed to the point of not training, Yuuki takes her to the beach to talk sense into her. She says that if she's not running beside Miyamoto, there's simply no point. He responses that if the normally bright and cheerful Kazuki isn't there, he'd rather die and walks straight into the ocean and nearly gets washed out. Tearful, she goes in after him, despite her fear of the ocean and swimming, and tells him that she'll continue chasing her dream.
They affirm their love for each other during New Year's and officially become a couple. Kazuki is wanted by every sports university and ends up going to the one Miyamoto attended, who comes once a month to coach her. Yuuki follows her to the same university and is studying sports medicine. Voiced by Kuwatani Natsuko.
Every since e'tude prologue, I have never trusted nor liked the female childhood friend of any male protagonist. Kazuki falls into the very annoying pitfall of having the classic childhood friend / lover complex. She is irritatingly needy, but not as bad as Hagiwara Asami. I will give her props for having somewhat interesting drama in her route. Instead of pining over Yuuki, she mourns over the temporary loss of her path to achieve her dream. While this route isn't bad, I gagged at the amount of cheese in it. I'm just not into childhood friend / lover routes anymore. Once you've done one, you've done them all.
Kagami Chizuru is Sakurazuka High School's mysterious, beautiful genius. Despite Kanou Teruya having the top score in the school, she is known to be a genius without paying any attention in class.
Yuuki first meets her when she walks into convenience store he works at to buy batteries for her personal safety alarm. The store didn't accept credit stores, so he lent her money to pay. She pays him back the next day at lunch, and he invites her for lunch in the cafeteria and walks her home. He realizes that Kagami isn't as mysterious as said to be, simply that no one is willing to approach her quiet atmosphere. With more lunches and walks home together, he discovers that she is a gifted tinker and has a love of mathematics. She wants to follow in the footsteps of Carl Friedrich Gauss, a German mathematician, but it's unlikely her overprotective widowed father will allow her to go off by herself.
During summer vacation, Yuuki picks Kagami up at her house before heading to the amusement park, but her father, a stern-faced man, questions his identity, grades, parents, and college prospects before he lets the two of them go. When she tutors him in trigonometry, he sees how much she loves math and her role model, Gauss. He tries to bring up her father, but she slightly resents him for only ever wanting her to be quiet and mature, so she has only ever studied to please him.
One day, he overheads a conversation between Kagami and Sumeragi that she will be going abroad for university. It is a four year program in Germany, and she will be leaving immediately after graduation. Their relationship becomes strained after that revelation, and they openly admit that they will miss each other and agree to go out on Christmas. She ends up sneaking out without her father's knowledge, and when he escorts her home, her father forbids her from meeting with him again. She emotionally lashes out at him, saying that he has never really cared for her. Yuuki sees through both their facades and tells them so: Kagami has been very lonely since her mother's death, and her father doesn't know how to make her happy. With the father-daughter relationship on the mends, she confesses that she likes him as more than a friend. He finds that he can't answer her, because he doesn't want to influence her decision whether or not to go to Germany.
At graduation, Kagami informs him of her decision to study in Germany, which he then feels free to confesses his feelings for her. They agree to keep in touch and to see each other again. In the epilogue, we find out that she completes the four year program in two and comes back to Japan for him. Voiced by Senoo Kumi.
The quiet, mysterious, misunderstood beauty. Another stereotype. Well, at least, Kagami is a tolerable character. One of the issues I have with her route is that it lacks the drama that Kazuki and Himeno had in their routes. Sure, Kagami has miscommunication with her father and is confused whether to go to Germany, but it is nowhere near as dramatic as being deathly sick and losing one's lifelong dream. It's aight, but not good.
Kusakabe Ruria is a first year girl who is the ultimate girly girl, complete with the hair ties, frilly dresses, and high-pitched squeal. She begins the school year by sending Yuuki so many anonymous flowery confession letters that he thinks he's being pranked. Eventually, Ruria's fan club corners him and drags him out to meet her. She confesses her feelings for him and asks him to be her boyfriend; he declines, but after some tears from her and some threats from her fan club, he agrees to get to know her first.
She surprises him at the convenience store during one of his shifts; he is annoyed, but kindly explains to her that her presence would be a bother to him while he's working. She's sad, but takes it to heart and leaves. He begins to think that she may not be annoying and that she may be reasonable. With more time spent with her at school and on dates, he learns that she has a very nuanced view of love and dating (gathered from manga and dramas); her pets consist (but not limited to) toads, snakes, and iguanas; and her family is super rich. When Yuuki visits Ruria's house, he meets her mother, who looks super young and beautiful, and her father, who looks like a mountain man complete with the unshaven beard and plaid shirts but is the fashion designer behind the sweet and frilly label "Sweet Angel." Her father, super protective of Ruria, starts quizzing him and threatening him, but Ruria stops him before he goes too far. She apologizes to Yuuki for her father's behavior, and offhandedly mentions that she used to hate her father's frilly clothes, but now loves it.
On their walks home together after school, Ruria reveals that before Sakurazuka High School, she attended an ojousama elevator school, which makes he wonder why she went through the trouble to test into Sakurazuka. Eventually, she tells him that she first met him when he was in the fifth grade and she in third. She really wanted to play with the neighborhood kids, but instead was bullied because of the frilly clothes her parents dressed her in. Yuuki stepped in and stopped the bullying, which she has held close to her heart ever since and influenced her to apply for Sakurazuka.
One day, Ruria isn't at school and he finds the day to the too silent, dull, and grey. He later finds out from her fan club that her father is hospitalized. He goes to visit her at the hospital and to reassure her that all will be fine. However, she still doesn't come to school for a while, and she surprises him just before his shift with a request from her father to meet him. He agrees to skip his shift at the convenience store and go to the hospital. Her father, despite being deathly sick and hooked up to all sorts of machines, quizzes him again, but it turns out to be pretense and a test of character for him. He storms out and Ruria follows, not knowing that this was all set up. He believes that she wasn't involved and still cares for her.
At graduation, Ruria is sad that he's graduating without her, but resolves to go to the same university as him. In the epilogue, despite Yuuki going to college, Ruria somehow gets her hands on a key to his apartment and comes over every day to cook for him. Her father even starts a new label called "Dark Angel" and offers him a job. Voiced by Koyama Kimiko.
I really, really hated her when she pops up in the other characters' routes, but I grew to tolerate and like her in her own route. She's a lot less annoying when you get to know her, but she is still outwardly annoying. Unfortunately, her route is like Kagami's -- it lacks drama. It's just not that interesting.
Sumeragi Kano is Yuuki's homeroom teacher and a serious teacher who is truly concerned for her students, but he is slightly afraid of. When he oversleeps and ditches the first day of school, she calls and reprimands him for his behavior, as the school has given him permission to live alone, so he must be on his best behavior or the school might withdraw their permission. In addition, he is coerced to attend the tea ceremony club by Himeno, the advisor being Sumeragi, but he actually starts to enjoy it.
One day, he has to skip a club meeting because he has a shift at the convenience store. However, Sumeragi catches him just before he leaves, demanding an explanation. He tries to fob off some excuse, but ends up admitting that he has a part-time job. He tells her that living alone is harder than he thought with the expenses. He didn't want to worry his parents and ask for more money, so he got himself a job and appreciates how hard work can be so satisfying. She is extremely moved by his explanation and decides to get him official permission for his part-time job.
During the last tea ceremony of the first semester, she leaves in the middle to answer her cellphone. He goes after her and eavesdrops. She is talking to her boyfriend of five years and tells him that she'll be able to meet with him as soon as summer vacation starts. On the last day of his summer remedial classes (he failed his exams), he bumps into her near the train station. It turns out that she had a minor car accident and her car is in the shop. He offers to carry her groceries home, and she offers him tea at her apartment, where he finds omiai pictures. She immediately gets flustered and gets him to put it down.
During the second semester, a lot of people are coming down with the cold and it turns out that only he and Sumeragi are able to attend club. With just the two of them, she ends up revealing her parents believe that she should marry early and want her to quit her job and find a nice man. When he tells her to tell her parents she doesn't need a lover, she ends the conversation and kicks him out of the room. The next day, despite the other members still being out, he thinks that club is still on with Sumeragi. When she doesn't show, he barges into the faculty room to ask why and she tells that it would be a waste to have a tea ceremony when it's just the two of them. He leaves, but angry and confused with her behavior. It turns out that she was dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of the summer vacation, and she is still sad over it. He tells her it's okay to cry, and she gives him permission to call her by her given name.
By this time, Yuuki realizes that he likes Sumeragi as a woman. He starts calling Sumeragi by her given name, Kano, at school, and she coldly asks him to address her properly as his teacher. With tips from Kazuki, he plans to win her affections by walking her to school every morning. But that plans fails, he gets tickets to the amusement park for December 31 and invites her. She declines at first, but eventually gives in. They have a good time there, and they go on the carousel. She sadly reminisces about her ex, but he tells her that he will be the man to make her happy. He confesses his feelings for her, and she tells him she likes him, too.
On the first day to school, he is giddy with job, but rumors are going around that Sumeragi got engaged to a man her parents introduced her to. After school, he confronts her and she tells him that everything she said at the amusement park were lives. He is heartbroken, but he goes to her place at night. She tells him that the real reason is that she is his teacher and he is her student. He tells her he loves her and vice versa, and she agrees to break off the engagement for him. At graduation, he introduces her as his girlfriend to the Scooby gang. They are surprised, but very happy for him. In the epilogue, Yuuki gets into a better university than he expected, which make Sumeragi thrilled. However, she makes him study whenever they are together, but he doesn't mind as long as they are together. Voiced by Itou Miki.
Sumeragi's route has the requisite drama in her route: the tension between him and her, the issue of her being a teacher and his being a student, Yuuki acting both childish and mature. Unfortunately, Yuuki acts like the stupidest bastard in the world. Why? He carelessly uses Sumeragi's given name at school, during school hours, when anyone could be listening in. You dumb hick, you can like her as much as you want, but if you're going to pursue a relationship with a teacher, keep it on the down-low.
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Thank you, God, for making this Takuyo's last dual protagonist game. Again, I feel like I'm ragging on Takuyo's games again, but I swear I'm not deliberately doing it. It's just not an interesting, cohesive game. It simply goes through the final year of high school of a boy or girl, and it's simply boring. There's no overreaching plot that ties the two protagonists together. With e'tude prologue, when the two protagonists, Tatsuya and Hitomi, have a love story that can be told from two different perspectives. With for Symphony, everything is too disconnected and too disjointed.
Worse yet, even within each protagonist's routes, neither character is particularly deep. You learn more about each character whose route you do than you do about the protagonist you play in all the routes. Maybe I'm too influenced by today's games, where they focus on not just the plot, but the protagonist as well. Obviously, I've played too much Otomate games, because those are super story-driven (that is unless they figure out it's a great cash-cow and start pushing crappy games with no story and bad art).
The art isn't super gorgeous, but it's early 00's art -- what can you do?
Ultimately, I can't suggest this game to anyone unless they are trying to play through every single otome game in the history of the world. It's not that interesting and lacks a cohesive story, which is so very, very important.