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 Palette, and it was released in Japan on October 30, 2009 for

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 ...

PCs. ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' is Palette's ninth title. The gameplay in ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and differs upon the player's decisions, and its storyline focuses on the appeal of the four female main characters. Futago Minazuki has illustrated three

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 ...

adaptations serialized 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 ...

's ''

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 ...

'' magazine. Four drama CD adaptations titled ''Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama CD Series'' were released by Lantis in 2010. A 12-episode

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

Manglobe was a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami, Tokyo and active from 2002 to 2015. The studio was formed on February 7, 2002 by Sunrise producers Shinichirō Kobayashi and Takashi Kochiyama. Manglobe filed for bankruptcy in September 2015 af ...

aired in Japan between October and December 2011.

Gameplay

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 ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' requires little interaction from the player, as most of the duration of the game is only spent on reading the text that appears on the lower portion of the screen, representing 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 characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point", where they are given the chance to choose from multiple options. The time between these points varies and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. Text progression pauses at these points and depending on the choices that the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are four main plot lines in the original release that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. This is increased to six plot lines in 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, ...

version with the extended scenario for two female characters. To view all of 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.

Plot

The story of ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' primarily takes place in the fictional town of , which consists of two distinct districts dubbed the , which primarily contains traditional housings resided by

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

families, and the , which is generally inhabited by

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

families. The town also houses two private academic institutions undergoing a merger: the , a notorious upper-class girls' academy nicknamed , and the , a

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

school which Shingo, the protagonist whose role the player assumes, attends. As part of the merger, students from both schools are selected to participate in a test class at the Yuihime Girls' Academy campus, an act which is initially opposed by the female student body.

Characters

Main characters

; : (Drama CD/anime) :Shingo is the main protagonist and is a second-year student of Kagamidai Academy. He is very hardworking and kind. He was selected as a test student, and transferred to Yuihime Girls' Academy to participate in 2-T, the second-year test class. He was elected the class representative. He quickly makes friends with several girls at Yuihime Girls' Academy, though Airi does not want to get along with him or any of the other boys. He was sickly and asthmatic in his childhood, but he is in good health now. His parents are busy with their work and are seldom at home. ; : (PC),

Ryōko Ono is a Japanese voice actress from Yokohama, Japan. She is also known as or . Filmography Anime ;2004 *'' Kurau: Phantom Memory'' as Washima *''Otogi Zoshi'' as Daughter 2 (ep 2) *'' Black Jack'' as Wato ;2005 *''Honey and Clover'' as Female St ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) :Airi is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy and the principal's daughter. She always gets the best grades among all second-year students. At first, she was against the plan for merging of the schools, and rejected male students from Kagamidai Academy, but she began getting along with them several weeks later. She was elected the class representative along with Shingo. She was born and brought up in an upper class family in the Old District, but she has lived by herself in a low-priced apartment in the New District since she started attending Yuihime Girls' Academy. She lives in a simple life and often goes shopping to a local supermarket in the New District named Kume Mart to buy reasonable-priced food and daily necessities. ; : (PC), Mai Gotō (Drama CD/PSP/anime) :Sakuno is Shingo's younger stepsister and first-year student of Kagamidai Academy; her father married Shingo's mother about ten years ago. She has a quiet personality and is good at cooking, but has a poor sense of direction and often gets lost. She was selected as a test student with her brother, and transferred to Yuihime Girls' Academy to participate in 1-T, the first-year test class. She happened to meet Airi at night on September 30, the day before the transferring on October 1. She became close friends with Airi at that time. She often goes shopping to Kume Mart, too. She is youngest but tallest among the main female characters. ; : (PC),

Oma Ichimura is a Japanese freelance voice actress who worked for Office CHK. Filmography *Yukiko Hirohara in '' 11eyes'' * Poyomon in '' Digimon Adventure 02'' *Satomi Arimoto in ''Fruits Basket'' *Uribo in ''Himawari!'' *Sakuya in '' Izumo: Takeki Tsurugi ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) :Angelina, nicknamed , is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy. Unlike other female students, she does not wear school uniform, but always wears a maid costume. She is a and hopes to meet her future master someday. She is in Shingo's class and tries to help the students from Kagamidai Academy assimilate. Her father is Japanese and her mother is British, but she speaks only Japanese because she was born and brought up in Japan. She has a cheerful personality and is very good at housekeeping tasks such as cooking and cleaning, but is weak at general educational subjects such as English and mathematics. Her favorite food is

tokoroten is a dish in Japanese cuisine made from agarophytes. Tokoroten has been eaten by the Japanese for over a thousand years. Tokoroten is thought to have been introduced to Japan from China during the Nara period. Tokoroten was traditionally made by b ...

. She later becomes Shingo's maid, and refers to him as (in her storyline of the game and, temporarily, in the fifth episode of the anime). ; : (PC),

Noriko Rikimaru is a Japanese voice actress and narrator. Notable voice roles *Class President – '' My Bride is a Mermaid'' *Sister Claire – ''Chrono Crusade'' *Elie's Mother – ''Groove Adventure Rave'' *Asuka Shiratori – '' Izumo: Takeki Tsurugi no Senk ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) :Miu is a third-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy. She lives in a house nearby the school with her mother and two cats. She is the founder and president of the , a school club whose purpose is to care for injured wild animals and then return them to the wild. She works part-time at a

maid café are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants, and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The f ...

named Dolce to earn money for club activities; as the Nuko Club is not an official club, the club's budget is not supplied by the school. She is very kind to Shingo and becomes fond of him. She is eldest but shortest among the main characters. ; : (PC),

Mayumi Yoshida is a Japanese voice actress. She is also known as . Filmography Video games ''Eroge'' :''As Misono Moriya'' *'' Akane iro Ni Somaru Saka'', Mitsuki Shiina *'' ef - the letter tale'', Mizuki Hayama / Akane Himura **''Tenshi no Nichiyoubi'' ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) :Sana is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy and Airi's childhood friend. Although a supporting character in the PC game version, she is a main character in the PSP game version, as the result of taking first place in a favorite character poll of the game. She likes Miu very much and is in the Nuko Club because of her. Although she does not like boys, she makes an effort to makes the male students from Kagamidai Academy feel welcome, but she later reverts to her true self. She dislikes Shingo especially and often calls him . This is exacerbated when she notes the growing closeness between Shingo and Miu. In the anime, Sana develops feelings for Shingo herself, but is heartbroken when Shingo and Miu start dating since she realizes that if she had been nicer to him, he might have chosen her. ; : (PSP/anime) :Yutsuki is a new female character included in the PSP game version. She is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy, but is not in Shingo's class. She is in the drama club. She is good at cooking but not good at cleaning. She lives in a shrine with her parents and grandmother. In the anime, she appears in the last episode.

Others

; : (PC),

Tatsuhisa Suzuki is a Japanese voice actor and singer from Ichikawa, Chiba. He is affiliated with I'm Enterprise and Lantis. He is the former lead vocalist of Oldcodex, in which he performed under his stage name Ta_2. Biography ''Shūkan Bunshun'' reported tha ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) : Hayata is a second-year male student of Kagamidai Academy and Shingo's good friend. He is Kagamidai Academy's student council president. He also transferred to Yuihime Girls' Academy to participate in 2-T. He acts as the vice-president at Yuihime Girls' Academy's student council. He has a fiancée. ; : (PC),

Harumi Sakurai is a Japanese voice actress and narrator. Some of her prominent roles are Saya Tokido in ''Little Busters!'', Yuri Nakamura in ''Angel Beats!'', Awaki Musujime in ''A Certain Magical Index'', Lisanna Strauss in ''Fairy Tail'' and Sylphie Appl ...

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) : Ranka is Airi's mother and the principal of Yuihime Girls' Academy. She is very popular among her students. She got a divorce from her husband more than ten years ago. ; : (PC), Kei Mizusawa (Drama CD/PSP/anime) : Machi is a female teacher who teaches Japanese at Yuihime Girls' Academy. She is the homeroom teacher of Shingo's class, 2-T; Airi, Angelina, Sana and Hayata are also in the same class. She is shy and is not good at talking with young men, but she actually likes

boys' love ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the ''wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created b ...

. She is a 29-year-old single woman and wants to get married as soon as possible. She becomes the adviser for the Nuko Club (in Miu's storyline of the game and the seventh episode of the anime). ; : (PC), Michiru Yuimoto (Drama CD/PSP/anime) : Yuiko is Miu's mother. She often gets mistaken for Miu's older sister due to her young appearance. She is a graduate of Yuihime Girls' Academy, and Ranka's friend. She has two cats named Domon and Karin inside the house. Her husband lives in a distant town on business. ; : (Drama CD) : Eleanor is Angelina's mother from Britain, who lives in Britain with her husband. She is a graduate of Yuihime Girls' Academy, too. She appears in the third drama CD volume. ; : (PSP) : Setsu is Yutsuki's grandmother. She is a new character included in the PSP game version. ; : (PSP) : Rio is Sana's younger brother, who is too young to attend school. He is a new character included in the PSP game version. He is the reason why Sana dislikes boys (Rio also hates girls because of his sister). ; : (PC),

(Drama CD/PSP/anime) : Pannya is a strange, female cat-like creature that lives on the campus of Yuihime Girls' Academy. She is close to Miu. Her name "Pannya" comes from "panda" and "''nyanko''" ("kitty" in Japanese).

Development

''Mashiroiro Symphony'' is the ninth title developed by the visual novel developer Palette, after their previous titles such as '' Moshimo Ashita ga Hare Naraba'' and ''

Sakura Strasse is an eroge visual novel developed by Palette for Windows as a DVD. It was released on January 25, 2008. Sakura Strasse is Palette's seventh game. "Sakura" means cherry blossom in Japanese and "Strasse" means street in German. Its opening theme "H ...

''. ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' scenario was written by three people: Hozumi K, who wrote Airi and Angelina's storylines; Hare Kitagawa, who has previously worked on Minori's ''

Haru no Ashioto is a Japanese adult visual novel by Minori released on July 23, 2004. A PlayStation 2 port, , was released on April 6, 2006, and a fandisc, , was released on March 31, 2006. The deluxe ''Step of Spring Paku Paku Pack'' comes with puppets of th ...

'', provided Sakuno's storyline; and Orgel, who provided Miu and Sana's storyline. Character design and art direction for the game was split among three people: Tsubasu Izumi, who worked on Feng's '' Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka'', provided character designs for female characters; Tamahiyo provided designs for two male characters, Shingo Uryū and Hayata Mukunashi; and Nagomi Tozakura provided

super deformed Chibi, also known as super deformation, or S.D. is a style of caricature originating in Japan, and common in anime and manga where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby with stubby limbs, oversized heads, and m ...

illustrations. ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' music was solely composed by Burton, who provided music for ''Sakura Strasse''. Tsubasu Izumi and Burton also work on Palette's thirteenth title ''Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki'', which was released on June 27, 2014. ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' was first released for

PCs on October 30, 2009. An all-ages edition developed by

HuneX HuneX is a video game developer formed as a partnership between NEC Home Electronics, Ltd. and Human in 1992. HuneX mainly produces Bishōjo games and Otome games. Games *77: Beyond the Milky Way *Aikagi: Nukumori to Hidamari no Naka de * All Jap ...

and published by Comfort playable on the

(PSP), titled ''Mashiroiro Symphony: *mutsu no Hana'', was released on June 30, 2011.

Adaptations

Manga

''Mashiroiro Symphony'' received three

adaptations illustrated by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

Futago Minazuki, which were serialized in the

manga magazine 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 used ...

''. The first manga adaptation, which covers Airi Sena, was serialized between the November 2009 and October 2010 issues, published on September 26, 2009 and August 26, 2010, respectively. The twelve individual chapters were later collected into two ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes published by

on April 26, 2010 and September 25, 2010. A second manga adaptation illustrated by Minazuki titled , which covers Sana Inui, was serialized between the April and September 2011 issues of ''Comp Ace''. Six chapters were collected into a single volume released on August 26, 2011. A third manga illustrated by Minazuki titled , which covers Yutsuki Onomiya, was serialized between the October 2011 and January 2012 issues of ''Comp Ace''. Four chapters were collected into a single volume and will released on December 26, 2011. A manga anthology illustrated by various artists titled ''Magi-Cu 4-koma Mashiroiro Symphony'' was released by

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

on March 25, 2010.

Drama CDs

Lantis released four

drama CDs Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

titled collectively as the ''Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama CD Series'', one for each heroine. Airi's CD, titled , was released on July 21, 2010. Sakuno's CD, titled , was released on August 25, 2010. Angelina's CD, titled , was released on September 22, 2010. Lastly, Miu's CD, titled , was released on October 27, 2010.

Internet radio show

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 to promote the anime series titled began airing on October 4, 2011. The show is produced by Lantis Web Radio and is streamed biweekly. It is hosted by

Takahiro Mizushima is a Japanese voice actor and singer. He is currently affiliated with Axlone. When voicing adult games, he is known as . Biography Mizushima is a former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force official. He entered the JGSDF Youth Technical School, a bo ...

and

, the voices of Shingo and Airi in the anime, respectively. The opening theme is by

Choucho is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture and is signed to Lantis. Career ChouCho initially formed the band ''Lotus Lotus'' in 2007 when still in high school and performed covers of songs from anime. Starting in June 2008, ChouCho began submi ...

, and the ending theme is by

Marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

Anime

A 12-episode

television series adaptation produced by

and directed by

Eiji Suganuma is a Japanese animator, director and character designer. He has directed '' Ninja Cadets'', ''Kodomo no Jikan'', ''Whispered Words'', ''Mashiroiro Symphony'', and '' Karneval''. Filmography References External links * * Japanese ...

titled aired between October 5 and December 21, 2011 on

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcasti ...

. The story is based on Miu's route of the game, but also includes parts of other routes as well. The screenplay was written by Team Rikka, and the chief animation director Toshie Kawamura based the character design used in the anime on Tsubasu Izumi's and Tamahiyo's original concepts. The music was produced by Nijine, and the sound director is Satoshi Yano. The series was released on six

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

(BD) and DVD compilation volumes between January 25 and June 27, 2012. This series was streamed online with English-subtitles by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

and the

Anime Network Anime Network is an American video on demand (VOD) network dedicated to anime owned by AMC Networks. History The network was launched in North America in late 2002 and is marketed to multi system operators (MSOs) as both a free and subscript ...

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 in North America and released the series with on DVD with English subtitles on December 4, 2012.

Music

The visual novel ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' has three theme songs: the opening theme sung by

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 ...

, the insert song sung by

Aki Misato is a female Japanese J-pop singer from Saitama, Japan. Most of her songs are theme songs for anime and video games. She made her debut in 2004 with her first single Kimi ga Sora Datta (君が空だった), which was featured as the ending theme ...

, and the ending theme sung by ЯIRE. The PC game's original soundtrack was released by Palette on December 27, 2009. The opening theme for the PSP version is by Hashimoto. An

image song An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, ''dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a character ...

album titled ''Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama Series Sound Portrait'' was released on November 24, 2010 by Lantis featuring the theme songs from the drama CDs as well as other songs by Hashimoto, Misato,

Rino Rino may refer to: * Rino (given name) * Republican In Name Only, a pejorative term for U.S. Republicans considered to be insufficiently conservative * Rino, a singer-songwriter who performs under CooRie * RiNo, the River North Art District north ...

and ЯIRE. The anime has two theme songs: the opening theme "Authentic Symphony" by

, and the ending theme by

. "Sayonara Kimi no Koe" is also included in the anime's final episode. The single for "Authentic Symphony" was released on October 26, 2011, while the single for "Suisai Candy" was released on November 9, 2011. Two character song singles sung by the voice actresses from the anime were released by Lantis. The first, titled "Character Palette Vol. 1", for the characters Airi Sena and Sakuno Uryū, sung by

and Mai Gotō, respectively, was released on November 23, 2011. The second, titled "Character Palette Vol. 2", for the characters Miu Amaha, Sana Inui and Angelina Nanatsu Sewell, sung by

and

, respectively, was released on December 21, 2011. The anime's original soundtrack titled was released on January 25, 2012.

Reception

From July to September 2009, ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' ranked three times in the top ten in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The rankings were at No. 10 in July, No. 7 in August, and No. 1 in September. ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' ranked twice in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan: at No. 1 in October 2009 and at No. 49 in January 2010.

Notes

References

External links

Palette's official ''Mashiroiro Symphony'' website

Comfort's official ''Mashiroiro Symphony: *mutsu-no-hana'' website

Anime official website
* * {{Manglobe 2009 manga 2009 video games 2011 Japanese television series debuts 2011 manga Bishōjo games Eroge Harem anime and manga Harem video games Japan-exclusive video games Kadokawa Shoten manga Lantis (company) Manga based on video games Manglobe PlayStation Portable games Romance anime and manga Romance video games School life in anime and manga School-themed video games Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games HuneX games