Sakura no Uta – first strophe

As one or the other checking out this little blog of mine may have noticed (or not), I’ve been away for a good while which less relates to my inability to maintain a steady update schedule rather than been off for a short but mighty fine (no, it was more like awesome) vacation with my fiancé (on a way more unusual and unrelated but necessary note if you ever plan to make a trip to Austria there’s *nothing* like Salzburg during the festival time in summer – a cultural and atmospherical experience unlike anything else).
That personal part of today’s entry aside, I’d lastly also use this as another edition of thoughts and impressions this time around on a recently completed Bishoujo Soft title that I was admitted quite eager to get started with since..well at least back when it’s been announced. Given that it’s been a while since I did finish a title and entry dedicated on that, let me halt and continue straight to the particular release in spotlight this time around. As usual, keep in mind that more or less heavy spoilers to follow within the upcoming write-up.

• Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~
Brand: MAKURA
Release: 2008/09/26
Genre: Adventure

Art: Motoyone | Suzuri | Kagome | Tsukinon | Sukaji
Scenario, Planning: Sukaji
Producer: Iida Satomi
Music: ryo | elephant music

+ Basic Plot Outline:
Spring. Encircled by a natural springlike pink surrounding due to the Cherry trees peak time the presented scenary is anything else than such as one would (like to) associate with this stunning season of the year – a funeral. The mourners are about to pay their last respect to Kusanagi Kenichirou. Among them is also his son Kusanagi Naoya now an orphan after his mother died when Naoya was still young. That tragic happening left scars on Naoya as he turned into a steeled and partwise cold acting young man who wouldn’t shed a tear (even calling that “disgusting”) there and having some troubles to get in touch and along with people. About to live alone in a big mansion, Naoya eventually takes up the invitation by the Natsume family, with whom Naoya has a close tie of friendship since their childhood, to move in to their place for the time being. This literal move not only brings in welcomed alternation into Naoya’s life. Actually it’s more chaos than initially expected due to the “lively” members of the Natsume clan: Natsume Kei – Naoya’s best male friend who’s not only a Bishie from head to toe but also got some girlish attitude stepping forth which Naoya *loves* to tease and pick on him with, Natsume Shizuku – working as model and got quite some dry humor and last but not least Natsume Ai – older sister to Kei and Shizuku despite her looks may not lead one to believe so (she’s quite short even though already past her 20′s) homeroom teacher of Naoya and horrible cook on top. This newly started way of living brings up enough “variety” to keep Naoya quite busy during the final days of spring break however once the new school term commences he finds himself even more confronted with the past as the tragic loss of his father already started to bring up. Aside of dealing with recurrent childhood memories of the time his mother was still alive, a new student at Yumihara Gakuen turns out to be an old aquantiance – Misakura Rin arrived and with that Spring’s snow fully commences.

Initially announced and slated for a 2004 spring release the Sakura no Uta project remains up until this very day the big Phantomsoft work by KeroQ Sisterbrand MAKURA. Unlike Navel and their Oretsuba the staff at MAKURA however constantly gave it new “release dates” which basically where delays from year to year (2004 spring to 2004 winter to 2005 winter then *year* 2007, 2008) with no actual sign of the real thing about to be brought out ahead. In the meantime of this non-productive state Sakura no Uta remained frozen in a Manga “porting” has completed its run and also Tankoubon release on top. Therefore when MAKURA came up with the announcement that as part of the reservation (pre-order) campaign of their actual third work Supre~me Candy ~ Oudou ni wa Oudoutaru Riyuu ga Arun desu!~ coevally the first part out of this delay-approved project would be attached, most of us waiting for Sakura no Uta since the initial announcement were not only surprised by that move of MAKURA, but I’d say a fair share of doubt that these plans will be executed as slated understandably were part of the reaction too. But lastly at the end of summer last year MAKURA showcased us nonbeliever that they aim to keep their plan up to bring out this first part among the Phantomsoft project of theirs and this time for real. Seeing Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ as starting chapter that is going to provide one with a first glimpse and introduction to the setting hits the nail on the head as to what MAKURA and its staff were trying to accomplish with it. Even though some people (and partwise the manufacturer itself) like to call this Spring’s snow part also the “trial” for the still unpublished nor seeming to reach that state anytime soon Sakura no Uta there are several aspects at which I find myself at a disagreeing position to that sentiment. Admitted, technically the term “trial version” is not that completely off at all and while some companies actually are releasing quite extensive trials to present fans a first sneak-peak of what to expect from the real thing, it’s lastly the effort showcased as well as the play time featured for this one that I can’t fully agree with that ~Haru no Yuki~ is not exactely as what it’s been labeled as by MAKURA. Time-wise Japanese fans state that this Soft takes one an approximate of six to ten hours in order to cross through, my personal experience which is directly connected and caused with my patience and reading speed took me 14-15 hours all in all to completeley finish with ~Haru no Yuki~ and all options (not going to call it “paths/routes”) offered. That may be trial-size in case of some Softbrands out there, but generally is far more than what such would offer. But also length aside there are far more aspects to list which shaped my impression concerning ~Haru no Yuki~ and which I’ll go into detail via the later on sections of this write-up. As the above cited basic outline for the setting and story may indicate, at the very start Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ doesn’t seem to set itself vastly apart from a good load of Bishoujo ADV out there. Some may even impute MAKURA trying to pull-off a simple and ever so often repeated harem title with the beginning part of the plot (parents dead, hero moves in to chaotic household – from there on it’s “girls, girls, girls”) but that ain’t the case here. Although the first chapter out of the Sakura no Uta saga doesn’t clearly head into one firm direction with the story which would allow one to clearly detect the major plot strand behind, it delicately brings along new elements as the days of spring pass by through that at least ~Haru no Yuki~ is following a firm path above standard Bishoujo/Eroge settings and more importantly results into an enjoyable and througoutly worthwile experience. One of the crucial aspects that which coevally represents a big strength as far as I’m concerned are the characters MAKURA Soft’s scenario writer in charge of Sakura no Uta infamous Sukaji (SCA自) carefully created and equipped the world of this project with. From supporting roles (although that is actually hard to tell at this early stage of the setting and moreso due to the mentioned not clear route this release follows) to primary and leading ones, the surrounding of Kusanagi Naoya as well as he himself are showing a lot of careful construed planning that works out just as neat as supposed to. Instead of your stereotypical lead, Naoya’s struggle in regards of his social life and his cold mostly dry to cynical kept sense of humor makes him nevertheless a protagonist as interesting as the rest of the gang and moreso refreshing alternation to other “heroes” out there. His friends, classmates and people he’ll cross paths during the progress of this spring venture are not standing behind one bit.

From the Natsume clan members such as Kei (*the* Bishie which I’m sure whenever MAKURA is going to release the rest of Sakura no Uta fangirls will cheer for and here’s admitted hoping for a seperate maybe ABHAR Sumairu Cubic! esque route for him too), Ai *who is pure love I realized from the “Loli on a motorbike” scene on* and Shizuku to other girls and guys amongst Naoya’s surrounding: Toritani Makoto – president of Yumihara Gakuen’s art club with her bossy and coevally hilarious sadistic manner, Kawachino Yuumi who’s got a strong developed passion for keeping everything neat and clean (mind you, one wrong word to her and you’re going to experience what cleansing spray right into yours eyes feels like!), Misakura Rin the (clumsy) girl from Naoya’s past who transfered back (after H2O -FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND-) and *many* more. That said the cast introduced alongside this starting chapter is actually of quite extensive amount as well, with a (what I’m almost tempted to consider MAKURA unique) fair balance of female *as well as* male characters featured. Aside of new faces brought up for Sakura no Uta there are also recurring ones which especially fans of this particular Softbrand’s previous works will recognize and love to see them reappear within this project such as supposable (as mentioned, one strict direction as main plot has not crystalized itself yet but I’d doubt that Naoya’s art issues in connection with his father and moreso flamed up by Rin joining the art club after all won’t be given importancy during the storyflow later on) centric heroine Misakura Rin to Hamaji Yukiji *and* Yakumo (and yeah, be prepaired for more crossdressing from the very day Yakumo appears あはっ☆). Out of this vast and colorful cast there’s no single one which I would rate as annoying or not as interesting which made me expect and look forward to more stage time for each of them. Personally one of those which I found the most intriguing characters was Kosuzuri Sakura, a “quite” Tsundere girl that has an illusionary introduction and which I’m anticipating a proper route or taking up a centric role amongst the setting, especially taking previous MAKURA works and their crossing of boundaries between reality and illusion into account Sakura’s appearance within ~Haru no Yuki~ left me with a theory concerning this girl’s role which I’m keen to find out whether that is real or just jumping to conclusions that early on.

The staging and progress of the featured scenario for ~Haru no Yuki~ is much as noted before not really heading into one strict direction yet. While that may seem a little surprising and moreso ultimately a major focus instead going towards the slice of life aspect of the storytelling, I found the utmost important ingredient added to the recipe of scenario executed for the start of Sakura no Uta by writer Sukaji to be the pacing. Aside of some moments dragging on for a little longer than they felt effective enough to last the pacing as handled with ~Haru no Yuki~ not only made me totally overlook the fact that the very beginning was gradually structuring a basic plot just to be dispersed to a multiplicity of daily school and private life occurances Naoya faces alongside the progress, but furthermore the method on which Sukaji shaped the scenario with its characters made ~Haru no Yuki~ turn into an immense enjoyable start for the Sakura no Uta saga. While I wouldn’t go as far to call this the result of througout meticulous schemed writing, the bottom line for ~Haru no Yuki~ on behalf of featured scenario and its progression leaves no doubt about the talent(s) in charge and enables it to come along with more than enough teasing potential for the rest of Sakura no Uta. So in this vastly important category for a visual novel ADV the first glimpse MAKURA provides us with the starting spring story amongst their Phantomsoft project convinced, lives up to my expectations and even managed to surpass these. Not totally flawless scenario represented herein but all in all adding more spice to still keep hopes and patience up for whenever the MAKURA (KeroQ) staff will be getting back to finally bless us with the fully fledged Sakura no Uta.

+ Graphics / Visuals:
Much as the Sakura no Uta project has been announced with back in 2004, the core staff or artistical collective that also brought us the visuals for their former two works (H2O -FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND- and √after and another) were in charge of graphics for Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ (in contrast to the partwise completely new team members for the main release, Supre~me Candy, this first part of their Phantomsoft came along with). More precisely speaking the collective consists of five different artists in total all working teamed-up for the designs and I’d like to see that as another MAKURA (and generally KeroQ Brand) unique aspect which despite so many talents involved with each of them featuring a rather distinctive individual style, the overall picture presented through the Soft results in such fluid and smooth transition that there’s no single aspect which negatively stands out. In fact the MAKURA art brigade produced a similar top-notch quality presentation in regards of graphics and visuals as Sukaji (who’s btw. also part of the illustrating fleet here) did on the scenario writing for ~Haru no Yuki~. Reaching another element out of the previously mentioned aspects whereat I can’t see this release being anything like a trial for demonstation sake, the amount of Event CG and overall artistical show-off moments alongside the progression of scenario is astonishingly high. At equal high extend each of these scenes are showing the meticulous effort everyone out of the six artistical talents put into their creation which make Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ a real treat for the eyes and especially if you enjoy MAKURA’s works thus far the first chapter amongst the series is eyecandy from the very beginning scenary up ’till the bitter and far too soon arriving end. That is not only restricted to the awesome character art, designs and whole lot of hilarious Tachi-e expressions and SD art (as the taken screenshots hopefully showcase well enough), but also the whole surroundings from the Sakura embedded starting funeral to the concluding spring sunset are kept full of detail and partwise I was about to consider ~Haru no Yuki~ almost giving companies like minori tough competition on these aspects alone. No expense nor effort was spared by MAKURA’s staff to make the commencing chapter of Sakura no Uta impress us fans just as it was supposed to be, leaving another striking impression on this fanboy whose expectations have been surpassed by quite a mile again. The mere only gripe in these visual aspects that I bear are actually not part of this category among the write-up but shall get latter mention during the System devoted part of this entry.

+ Music / CV:
MAKURA (and once again KeroQ in general) is in this fanboy’s opinion just *so* absolutely underrated on regards of music as can be. People out there wet their pants whenever some composer of the fame like Tenmon or Key/Visual Art’s Orito Shinji are coming up with new stuff for Bishoujo Soft projects. While that excited approach is certainly comprehensible and yours truly actually find himself among the cheering crowd for these talents as well, I must note that it’s been this very Sakura no Uta chapter/prologue/trial whatever you want to view it as, that came along with the best score for a Bishoujo Soft I had the pleasure to listen to in ages (and *that* statement is taking other outstanding acchievements in these regards such as AKABEiSOFT2′s G-Senjou no Maou, minori’s ef – the latter tale. or Studio Ryokucha’s magic a ride into account so that you’ll see where I’m coming from with that impression). Each and every piece out of the score that ryo and elephant music (both sadly without any personal website to check out more of them) crafted for ~Haru no Yuki~ suits the scenary perfectly. From the impressive and highly emotional pieces that were played during the beginning and nostalgic moments of Naoya been caught in memories to those slice of life / daily schoollife moments and events whereat even some of the most briliant BGM dreads to break out with “elevator music” style tracks these musicians exactely knew what they had to produce in order to make the music interact with the portrayed scenary in a genius suiting manner at any time. That sadly though makes me not only anticipate more of Sakura no Uta *now* but also the System aspect flaw I’m going into details later on as well as MAKURA having not bothered to release the score of this wonderful release on standalone CD Soundtrack release style yet makes it a true pitty in my eyes that the score remains ~Haru no Yuki~ (Soft) exclusive thus far. Also the ED theme titled “Bright Pain” equipped with performance by Hashimoto Miyuki and composition as well as arrangement by Blasterhead is anything of yours typical gentle outro theme that shall move you to tears yet brings you some sleep instead – fast paced and featuring catchy potential of high extends (which I would *love* to get in full-sized version on CD as well…).

As for the voice acting part of ~Haru no Yuki~ I’m not really sure what to tell you. The thing is, even though the configuration menu claims that there’d be character voices or at least lists eight out of the female cast to feature voice acting the Soft itself doesn’t present those. I had checked the MAKURA site to see whether there’s been some sort of patch released that would enable these girls some vocal perfoming alongside the story progress, but the usual “Under Construction” sign as MAKURA likes to leave as placeholder for their works is merely visable at the Download part of their official ~Haru no Yuki~ website. Apparently they were planning to release this chapter with some character voices but didn’t work out ultimately which makes this release completely unvoiced. That may not be something vastly uncommon, seeing how long it took bigger and more famed Brands like Key until they added voices to their releases, but still I found the lack of that element being the first and almost sole part whereat some sloppiness is showcased (I mean, why did they have to keep it within the config system if voices are no option to begin with? Am I missing some sort of trick to get those voices going?). However as concluding comment concerning the audio experience even without voice acting the musical presentation got me hooked there enough to also view this element of the production as rather impressive one.

+ Ero Content:
Just like the voice acting when it comes to clearly adultish moments ~Haru no Yuki~ does not feature any of them at all. Going back to some concept related notes there are now two theories to interpret this. Either, and that’s actually the explanation I lean towards to as well, MAKURA is aiming for this to be the real first chapter and with the exception of Eroge (and thereat those which are more Ero than game) encounters between the girls and the male lead of the adultish nature are not handed out that early at the scenario progress rather than being the outcome of the path (heroine route) you’re heading towards later on or they are planning to enhance a fully-fledged Sakura no Uta with 18+ moments included and added to this part of the story then as well.

Personally I can’t say of having really missed that and for those Eroge addicts not so merciful when it comes to leaving things all ages here, let’s just say there are several occassions during ~Haru no Yuki~ whereat MAKURA was not sparing with fanservice of the truely ecchi kind after all (the screenshot taken from such a scene is really just a mild one in comparisson with what is following story-wise much later on btw.). And fellow appreciator of the BL genre, let me catch up with something I guess should have made note of during the graphics/visuals section for this entry that all artists involved truely understood (again I’d say on MAKURA unique demands) how to equip Sakura no Uta with a fair handsome share of Bishounen up to Biseinen as well – there’s really something included (and also little pieces of fanservice there which somewhat support my dirty little hopes for a BL themed route as part of the main release) for each and everyone in terms of Fanservice while coevally remaining “all ages” and not overdoing the servicey aspect to outweight the lack of Ero scenes altogether as well.

+ System:
~Haru no Yuki~ did amazingly well for a more or less free (since it’s been the free reservation goodies for another MAKURA work) Soft release up to this very part of the write-up, nee? Far too good to be true I thought to myself, until I completed through it just to realize that essential stuff or extras as reward to finish went totally missing. Much to the same extend of lacking effort to what I’d call sloppiness the non-existent yet hinted voice acting element brought up earlier, the total lack of extras such as a Sound section whereat you could listen to the outstanding score this release is graced with or Event CG gallery that would give you a chance to review the high amount of such moments encountered througout ~Haru no Yuki~ are definitely minded. No, I still demand a patch that would fix these flaws as they are *expected* features not provided is absolutely minded and also managed to affect some of the enjoyment following ~Haru no Yuki~ from start ’till end represented to me. Aside of this major absence of essential stuff, there’s really nothing else to make note of in regards of System as everything else has been kept to the basics among basics whereat this release doesn’t particularly stand out at all. Well, maybe it felt refreshing to have a title which still keeps the Furigana when you’ll go back the text history to reread some stuff while playing, but that’s really it and some little candy like that certainly does not manage to outweight the big frustration it felt not to be able to standalone review either the artistical nor musical climax moments experienced while going through the Soft itself. Seriously, if it where not for my habbit of making use of the save slots in before impressive events to come up as well as decision points than it would have forced me to go through ~Haru no Yuki~ from the very start to get some screencaps of it done for this write-up… (yeah, it *does* include a skip feature, but that’s one of those “skipping all you’ve already experienced and events until you’re fast enough to deactivate the “skip” again). Structure-wise also this starting chapter enables one some decisions at certain points to be made. These are not as extensive as for example the Event CG is, but still not short kept either though coevally not always making much of a difference in regards of story progress. Some do and will lead you to encounters with the heroines available and depending on the answer or action chosen for, while others won’t leave any affect at all. The mere only difference in the end is a little chara variation at a certain art club activity towards the end, but that’s it. The main course of plot or how it concludes remains the same. That’s not that minded (certainly not as much as the lack of any extras) given the starting chapter aspect of ~Haru no Yuki~.

+ Packaging:
Again a category of this write-up whereat simple kept renders the impressions perfectly. However taking into account that ~Haru no Yuki~ has been attached as pre-order goodie to the main release it would have been a bit illusionary to expect some similar pompous packaging as MAKURA conducted for Supre~me Candy itself. Kept in a quite lovely DVD case with even a short manual included, I found the packaging actually already far more impressive than how it *could* have been made on much cheaper ways, like packing the game CD-ROM itself just within some protection sheet attached to the contents of the Supre~me Candy box. Why the Akashi twins (that are merely appearing for short towards the end) are featured on the cover art is beyond my understanding though (maybe ’cause they were new heroines not part of the initial announced cast for Sakura no Uta? But than again, Nonomi wasn’t either…). So also in regards of packaging ~Haru no Yuki~ did not leave down and taking its release history and moreso nature into account I found MAKURA showcasing once again quite some effort to make this release of theirs impressive through that aspect.

+ Overall Impression:
After four years of wait since the initial announcement, the question that remains after the first piece of the series has been published at last is, whether it was worth the wait and moreso patience we fans had approached it with. I hope that the individual sections of today’s write-up left such an impression but if not, lastly here I shall clearly state that ~Haru no Yuki~ was sadly far better than I had expected. Sadly because despite it providing a more extended glimpse and introduction at the world and setting of Sakura no Uta than I thought it would, once the scenary of spring’s conclusion heads into ED credits accompanied by the “Bright Pain” Outro song, the feeling that *now* (read: after ~Haru no Yuki~) that I definitely know it’s not just the involved team as well as the Phantomsoft aspect that kept me looking forward to Sakura no Uta receiving some definite release (maybe), enflamed my impatience concerning MAKURA coming up with the rest of this project. Even despite minor flaws involved, at those parts which I consider crucial in order to decide for myself whether a title is worth the buzz Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ definitely managed to leave utmost positive impact on this fanboy. Productions like showcased via this Soft are moreover those reasons which made me turn into an addict for MAKURA (KeroQ) produced works over the years therefore even despite they’re treatment over this project my patience and anticipation for the day Sakura no Uta will face its definite release coevally got strengthened all over again. Yes, with ~Haru no Yuki~ put out I for one really believe in that MAKURA’s staff will go back working on Sakura no Uta at some point (I mean, while that coincidentally moved SnU back on hold again, who really would have expected that with Subarashiki Hibi not only a fully-fledged KeroQ title has been announced more than five years after their last work but moreso this going back to the Brand’s debut work Tsui no Sora ten years (!!) past its release?). Ultimately ~Haru no Yuki~ represents a terrific and not too short appetizer for more Sakura no Uta to follow at some point. Hopefully MAKURA keeps up the promise stated at the very end (in hilarious Engrish style) that things are about “to be continude”.

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