, also known in short as ''Akasaka'', is a Japanese

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

developed by Feng and first released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

as a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on July 27, 2007. A version without adult content was released under the title ''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka: Parallel'' on July 31, 2008, by

GN Software GN Software is a Japanese video game developer and publisher of consumer console games, mainly for the PlayStation 2. GN Software is under the parent company Good Navigate, which is also what GN stands for. From 2010 in advance, all their ports ar ...

for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

. A port of this version of the game was released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

on December 17, 2009, under the title ''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka: Portable''. The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...

in ''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka'' follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters. Two

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

s were produced in December 2007 and February 2008 written by different authors, and an

Internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show began in April 2008. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptation began serialization in

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''Weekly Ma ...

magazine ''

Comp Ace is a Japanese PC game, computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. ''Comp Ace'' began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, ''Comptiq''. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and ...

'' on June 26, 2008, illustrated by Homare Sakazuki. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation produced by TNK and directed by Keitaro Motonaga aired in Japan between October and December 2008.

Gameplay

''Akaneiro ni Somaru Sakas

requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the screen which represents either

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...

between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a point where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. The time between these points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. Gameplay pauses at these points and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. In the original version, there are six main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. This number increases to seven with the PlayStation 2 version. To view all the plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different decisions to progress the plot in an alternate direction. One of the goals of the gameplay from the PC version is for the player to enable the viewing of sex scenes depicting the protagonist, Jun'ichi, and one of the six heroines having sex.

Plot

Jun'ichi Nagase attends a prestigious high school. He has the nickname Geno Killer since he was rebellious in middle school. This is used, inadvertently, to help a girl named Yuuhi Katagiri from trouble. She later transfers to his school. Jun'ichi then kisses her due to a misunderstanding. Outraged, because he stole her first kiss and embarrassed her, she screams at him. Subsequently, it turns out that Yuuhi is his fiancée as arranged by their parents. Their parents discuss the matter and order them to go out together for a month to restore their relationship. If their relationship does not get better, the engagement will then be cancelled.

Characters

; : (anime) :Jun'ichi is the main protagonist of the series and is a second year high school student. He had a reputation of a delinquent in junior high school until his sister, Minato, decided to move in with him. He has a snarky attitude and is often teased by everyone around him, including his teacher. His life takes a drastic turn when Yuuhi Katagiri enters his life. They first meet when he saves her from some delinquents who were bothering her. The following day she is introduced as a transfer student to his class. Due to a misunderstanding, he kisses her in front of the class causing her opinion of Jun'ichi to sour. This is further exacerbated when it turns out that their families have arranged their marriage. Despite this rough start, Jun'ichi finds himself protecting Yuuhi when she is harassed and, as time progresses, their feelings for one another begin to grow even though neither of them will admit it. Throughout the anime series it is hinted that Jun'ichi has romantic feelings for his sister, Minato, but is reluctant to admit this even though he sometimes has fantasies about her. In the final episode, he realizes that he cannot live without Minato and confesses to her. In the manga however, he and Yuuhi end up together, as he also has feelings for her. ; : (PC),

Rie Kugimiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her voice performances in anime, which include Alphonse Elric in the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, Kiana in ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', Kagura in ''Gin Tama'', and Happy in ''Fairy Tail ...

(anime/PS2) :Yuuhi is the main heroine in the series. She is very beautiful, which often causes trouble for her, since it draws unwanted attention from passersby - usually men. One day, when she was being harassed by two men, she was saved by Jun'ichi. The next day she transfers to his school (and his class) hoping meet her fiancé because she heard that he was in this area. Later, after a misunderstanding on Jun'ichi's part, he kisses her in public, causing her to have ill feelings towards him. Throughout the series her feelings for him grow. In the manga she and Jun'ichi end up together. ; : (PC),

Aya Hirano is a Japanese actress and singer associated with the voice acting agency Grick. Beginning in the entertainment industry as a child actor in television commercials, she appeared in her first voice acting role in the anime television series '' A ...

(anime/PS2) :Minato is Jun'ichi's younger sister and attends the same school that he does as a first year high school student. She is capable in all areas of household related work and is proud of it. She also has unique abilities, like listening to the ground to detect the presence of animals, as well as be able to communicate with them. She has feelings for Jun'ichi. She mentions that she was adopted once, but later says it was a joke. In the PC game Minato is blood-related to Jun'ichi but in the PS2 version she is not related to him, and it is implied that she is not blood-related to Jun'ichi in the anime. In the anime version she ends up with Jun'ichi; in the manga however, he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, and ends up with Yuuhi. ; : (PC),

Marina Inoue is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. She was signed into Aniplex until 2007. She was chosen out of 2,000 people from the "Gonna be a star" auditions (hosted by Sony Music Entertainment ...

(anime/PS2) :Tsukasa is a second year student in the same class as Jun'ichi, and is a childhood friend. She is a member of the News club. She has a lively personality and loves to gossip as well as tease Jun'ichi. ; : (PC),

Ryō Hirohashi is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Aoni Production. She mainly voices young girls and young boys. She is known for voicing Miles "Tails" Prower in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. Biography Hirohashi was born in Niigata Prefecture, he ...

(anime/PS2) :A first year high school student in the same class as Minato. She has an air of mystery around her, strongly hinted of being an alien, and can be found just about anywhere at the right time. ; : (PC),

Rie Tanaka is a Japanese voice actress and singer who is currently affiliated with Office Anemone. Notable among her numerous roles in anime are Lacus Clyne in ''Mobile Suit Gundam Seed'' and ''Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny'', Chi in ''Chobits'', Hikar ...

(anime/PS2) :Mitsuki Shiina is the president of the student council. She is a third year student and very popular among the student body. She likes to use Jun'ichi as her lapdog getting him to do favors for her or perform activities for the student body. ; : (PC),

Erino Hazuki is a Japanese voice actress who works for Aksent. On February 24, 2014, she announced that she had been married around December 2013. Filmography ;2002 *''Seven of Seven'' - Erino Kogarashi *''Princess Tutu'' - Malen and Uzura ;2004 *''SD Gundam ...

(anime/PS2) :Mikoto is a third year high school student in the same class as Mitsuki. She has an individual route which is not available at the beginning of the PC game. ; : (anime/PS2) :Karen is a second year student that is in the same class as Jun'ichi. She is an original character that was first introduced in ''Parallel''. She comes from a very rich family like Yuuhi and prides herself on acting like a lady. She becomes best friends with Yuuhi. She eventually admits to falling in love with Jun'ichi. ; : (PC),

Akira Ishida is a Japanese actor and voice actor. For his portrayal of Saki Abdusha in '' You're Under Arrest'', Makoto Kurumizawa in '' BOYS BE'', Setsuna Aoki in ''Sakura Wars'', and Athrun Zala is a fictional character from the Japanese science fict ...

(anime/PS2) :Nishino is Jun'ichi's best friend and is also a second year student in the same class as Jun'ichi. He is full of strange ideas that often get Jun'ichi into trouble, and is very close to Tsukasa being in very much the same line of thinking with her. He is the vice-president of the student council. ; : (PC),

Rikiya Koyama is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator currently affiliated with Haiyuza Theatre Company. He has done popular voicing roles in ''Hajime no Ippo'', ''Utawarerumono'', ''Kamen no Maid Guy'' and ''Yakuza'', and has become well known for voici ...

(anime/PS2) :Jun'ichi's teacher. While strict with regards to academics, he has a rather eccentric personality, especially towards Jun'ichi. ; : (PC),

Kaori Fukuhara is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She worked on the music group Bohemian Quarter's album "Blister Pack Voices". She and Emiri Kato were in a duo music group called Kato*Fuku, which sang theme songs for ''When Supernatural Battles Became ...

(anime/PS2) :She is the secretary and treasurer of the student council. ; : (PC),

(anime/PS2) :She is the younger sister of Nagomi. ; : (PC),

Yū Kobayashi is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Holy Peak. Some of her most prominent roles include that of Tadamichi Aoba in '' Dan Doh!!'', Setsuna Sakurazaki in ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi'', Dan Kuso in ''Bakugan Battle Brawlers'', ...

(anime/PS2)

Development

''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka'' is the fifth project developed by the

studio Feng, and is similar to their fourth title ''Aozora no Mieru Oka''. The producer for the game is Uezama. The project uses four different artists in character design: Tsubasu Izumi (designer of Yuuhi, Mitsuki, and Mikoto), Ryohka (designer of Minato and Nagomi), Naturalton (designer of Tsukasa), and Akira Sawano (designer of the protagonist, and the supporting cast). The scenario was entirely written by Kenji Saitō. For the

version, an additional heroine named Karen Ayanokōji was included and is designed by Manabu Aoi.

Release history

On July 23, 2007, a free

game demo A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time limit or a point in progress, which leads to the player buying the game if they liked it. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo disc, downloadable sof ...

of ''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka'' became available for download at Feng's official website. In the demo, the player was introduced to the main characters in the game through a sequence that is typical of the gameplay found in a visual novel which includes times during gameplay where the player is given several choices to make in order to further the plot in a specific direction. The full game was first released on July 27, 2007, as a

playable only on a

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

PC, containing full voice acting with the exception of Jun'ichi. A PlayStation 2 version without adult content was released on July 31, 2008, by

under the title .

Adaptations

Books

Two

s have been produced. The first, published on December 15, 2007, by Harvest, is written by Mutsuki Mizusaki and illustrated by Akira Sawano. The second, published on February 29, 2008, by Kill Time Communication, is written by Mao Shinji, the front cover is illustrated by Ryohka, and the inside has illustrations by Piēru Yoshio. An

art book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

for the visual novel called was published on February 29, 2008, by

Broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cl ...

Internet radio show

show to promote the ''Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka: Parallel'' called began broadcasting on April 2, 2008, and is distributed on Nico Radio. The show is streamed online every Thursday, and is hosted by

and

who voice Seijirō Sugishita and Nagomi Shiraishi from the visual novel. There are seven corners, or parts, to the show that each episode is divided into. Several

voice actors Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

from the visual novel have appeared on the show as guests who include

(as Mikoto),

(as Tsukasa),

Miyuki Hashimoto is a female Japanese singer from Saitama Prefecture. She is signed to Lantis, a label which contribute songs to anime and video games. Discography Singles * ''Koko ni Iru kara...'' (Released August 25, 2004) # Koko ni Iru kara... — anim ...

Emiri Katō is a Japanese voice actress and singer. At the 2nd Seiyu Awards, she won Best New Actress with her roles in ''Powerpuff Girls Z'' as Momoko Akatsutsumi/Hyper Blossom and '' Lucky Star'' as Kagami Hiiragi. She also shared a Best Singing Award wi ...

(as Karen), and

(as Aya).

Manga

adaptation began serialization in

magazine ''

'' on June 26, 2008. The story is based on the visual novel that preceded it, and is illustrated by Homare Sakazuki.

Anime

adaptation produced by animation studio TNK, directed by Keitaro Motonaga, and written by

Makoto Uezu is a Japanese anime screenwriter. Filmography Anime television 2000s *''Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan'' (2002), Script *''Bottle Fairy'' (2003), Script *''Maburaho'' (2003–04), Script *''Yumeria'' (2004), Series composition (with Yōsuke Kuro ...

aired in Japan on

Chiba TV , doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture but spill-over is received in the neighbouring prefectures. It is a mem ...

between October 2 and December 18, 2008. The anime's opening theme, , is performed by

and the ending theme, "Sweet Gift", is performed by

. A second ending theme performed by

, "Confusion...", is used for episode three. TNK made a mistake in the credits for "Hatsukoi Parachute" and named it "Ren'ai Parachute" instead. An additional

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

episode was released on June 26, 2009, with the seventh and final DVD compilation volume. Anime licensor

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

has licensed the series along with the OVA and release the complete collection on March 8, 2011.

Music

The PC version of the visual novel has two main theme songs, one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme, , is sung by

, written by

Aki Hata is a Japanese musician, singer, lyricist and composer. She is noted for having penned and composed songs for various anime and video games, including popular titles like '' Zettai Shōnen'', ''Azumanga Daioh'', ''Haibane Renmei'', '' Suzumiya Har ...

composed Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

by Akiko Tomita, and

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

Junpei Fujita is a Japanese arranger and composer, and a founding member of Elements Garden. His work includes composition and arrangement of some tracks of singles and albums of Nana Mizuki including albums ''Hybrid Universe'', ''Ultimate Diamond'' and ''Impac ...

. The ending theme, , is sung by Chiki-chan, written by Hata, and is composed and arranged by Yūichi Nakano. The PS2 version's opening theme is , which is sung and composed by Hashimoto, written by Noboru Yamaguchi, and arranged by Masaki Suzuki. The PC game's original soundtrack called ''Gradation!'' was released by Lantis on October 31, 2008, containing two discs.

References

External links

PC visual novel official website

Anime official website
* * {{TNK 2007 Japanese novels 2007 video games 2008 anime television series debuts 2008 Japanese novels 2008 manga 2009 anime OVAs Bishōjo games Eroge Japan-exclusive video games Kadokawa Shoten manga Lantis (company) Light novels PlayStation 2 games Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Television shows written by Makoto Uezu TNK (company) Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games