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''Summer Days'' is an erotic
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
0verflow (stylized 0verflow) is a Japanese video game division of specializing in the production of mature interactive fiction. The Overflow label is known for its game franchise '' School Days''. Stack's headquarters are located in the in Kanda, ...
, released on June 23, 2006, 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 ...
and later ported as a
DVD game An interactive film is a video game or other interactive media that has characteristics of a cinematic film. In the video game industry, the term refers to a movie game, a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, ...
and 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, ...
(PSP). It is the second installation of ''School Days'' line of series, succeeding the visual novel of the same name and preceding ''
Cross Days ''Cross Days'' is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow, released on March 19, 2010 for Windows and later ported as a DVD game and for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The story, a dramatic slice-of-life, follows the life of Yuu ...
''. Unlike the previous titles, that exist in the same continuity however, ''Summer Days'' is a
spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
of the original story retold from the perspective of Setsuna Kiyoura, a high school student out for summer vacation who finds herself attracted to Makoto Itou, a classmate and fellow patron of a restaurant she eventually comes to work at. The game retains the
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 ...
-like presentation familiar to the franchise, requiring little interaction from users, engaging players through a nonlinear plot they are given opportunities to change, and concluding with an ending specific to the choices made during play. 0verflow announced work on ''Summer Days'' in October 2005 and marketed it through a promotional campaign consisting of public screenings, sale of merchandise, and a celebratory event on the day of release. In spite of the game's positive performance during this time however, ''Summer Days'' was almost universally panned for its heavily bugged state that prompted a disorganized release of large, frustrating patches and an eventual recall. On August 26, 2011, 0verflow announced that the sale of ''Summer Days'' was being discontinued and that work on ''Shiny Days'', a modern remake, was underway. The remake was released on April 27, 2012. Though not as generous as its predecessor, ''Summer Days'' made transitions into other media following the game's release. A
comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication t ...
of the series was published, as was two
art books 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 ...
of character illustrations and a
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 ...
. The game's soundtrack was also released by Lantis.


Gameplay

As a visual novel, ''Summer Days'' contains extremely minimal gameplay. The game's core onscreen presentation is composed of scenes that are viewed from a mostly third-person perspective. At predetermined intervals, the game brakes, and players are presented with one to two responses or actions relevant to the scene in progress to make, or not make, on behalf of characters. Each selection branches the game's progress up that point in an alternate direction, while also causing the player's love toward a character to blossom, plateau, or diminish, thus providing for a nonlinear storytelling experience. As with its predecessor being an erotic title, relationships between characters may expectedly become sexual; scenes of this kind depict
French kissing A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sens ...
,
masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
,
oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex per ...
,
anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
,
Sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetrat ...
,
nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to ...
(both female and male) or combination of the five, and
pixelized Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship ...
censors over genitals (The North America release did not censor the genitals). Each route the game takes does invariably conclude at some point with an ending specific to it, thus, players who wish to watch additional endings, and notably aforementioned sex scenes, will have to play through the game more than once. Much like the other games in the franchise, ''Summer Days'' is unusual in that instead of traditionally static characters with subtitled dialogue, it incorporates motion and voice, making it reminiscent of an animated series. Cinamatics naturally play on their own, and players are afforded the ability to pause, fast-forward, and even skip those they've seen before; sex scenes, additionally, become unlockable from the main menu as they are reached in the game. Progress can be saved at any time and loaded from either the main menu or during play. Limited edition copies of ''Summer Days'' were also bundled with the standalone
Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...
mini-game , a whimsical take on ''School Days'' ending "Bloody End". Choosing from three
difficulties Difficulty or Difficult may refer to: *A problem *Degree of difficulty, in sport and gaming *Counter-majoritarian difficulty, in legal theory *Difficult, Tennessee, a community in the United States * "Difficult" (song), by Uffie *Hill Difficulty, ...
, the player controls Sekai, who attempts to fight off Kotonoha by pressing any two configurable keys in quick session. In the case of the highest difficulty, a third is also used. If the player is able to fend off their opponent long enough to fill their end of a progress bar, the game is won and a tally of how many times each key was pressed is recorded. If the player loses, they are given a chance to continue. In an identical fashion, limited edition copies of ''Shiny Days'' are expected to come bundled with , a
rock-paper-scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...
mini-game based around the disrobing of female characters.


Plot

Setsuna Kiyoura is a high school student out of school for summer vacation, enjoying the break with family and peers. When her childhood friend Sekai is bedridden with
mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...
and unable to attend to her part-time waitressing job, Setsuna much to her chagrin, agrees to fill in for her. Though she finds the work almost thoroughly unpleasant, from the revealing uniforms to difficult customers, Setsuna manages to overcome the challenges of the job through the encouragement of friends, particularly that of Makoto Itōu, a classmate she likes.


Setting

Set in the same universe as ''School Days'', ''Summer Days'' retells the story of the first game had it occurred during the midst of summer vacation instead of at school and from the perspective of another protagonist. The game takes place in a fictional, undisclosed prefecture of Japan that spans a range of cities, particularly a coastline called Haramihama, where the game's restaurant and center of activity, Radish, is established. As such ''Summer Days'' shares the same setting with a previous 0verflow game called ''Summer Radish Vaction!!'' as well as the same characters of Setsuna and Sekai's mothers.


Characters

''Summer Days'' incorporates all but a few of the recognized cast from ''School Days'' while introducing a handful of characters that would become new to the franchise. The game focuses on the life of Setsuna Kiyoura, a character remembered for her impassive personality in ''School Days'', repurposed as the thoroughly more open and emotional protagonist of its sequel. A first-year high school student out for summer vacation, Setsuna lives in the fictional city of Motehara with her mother Mai, a restaurateur who is frequently at work, and routinely visits Sekai Saionji, her childhood friend. In spite of the resentment she develops for the job she later takes, Setsuna finds the restaurant a wonderful social outlet. Besides reacquainting with Sekai's mother Youko, the owner, and a couple of meddlesome co-workers, Noan and Oruha, Setsuna meets a handful of new and familiar people on the job. Her first acquaintance is with Kokoro Katsura, a cheerful pre-teen who regularly stops in before piano lessons, Itaru Itou, a contagiously sweet little girl visiting for the summer, and Itaru's older brother Makoto, a classmate whom Setsuna has a crush on. Through Makoto, Setsuna is further introduced to Otome Katou, Makoto's best friend and a member of the school's women's basketball team, her younger sister Karen, a rambunctious antithesis with a comparatively larger bust, and Karen's friends Futaba and Kazuha Nijou, a pair of identical twins. Of the people Setsuna knows, Hikari Kuroda, a girl whose family owns a bakery known for its custard pie, and Ai Yamagata, a bespectacled and soft-spoken classmate, make occasional stopovers.


Development

News about ''Summer Days'' arguably first appeared on October 1, 2005, when 0verflow posted a link to the game's then-live website on their official blog. On April 1, 2006, 0verflow began a blog for the game, the first of which announced that ''Summer Days'' had been postponed from an original release in April to June 23. Character profiles were added between April 9 to June 17. Promotion for the game began shortly after. 0verflow announced on April 26 that it would be attending Dream Party 2006, 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 ...
convention, in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
on May 4 and in
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
on May 28, selling retail copies of previous titles and ''Summer Days'' wall scrolls. In addition to announcing its attendance, the company also began to sell costumes of the game's waitress uniform on April 26. On May 2, 0verflow posted that the company would be visiting
Akihabara is a common name for the area around Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, the area called Akihabara mainly belongs to the and Kanda-Sakumachō districts in Chiyoda. There exists an administrative district ca ...
,
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
,
Tokushima is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, E ...
, Koriyama,
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
and
Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
showcasing the game and selling ''Summer Days'' phone cards. Following a downloadable sample of the ''Summer Days'' limited edition DVD on May 12, 0verflow released a
teaser Teaser may refer to: * One who teases * Teaser (animal), a male livestock animal (typically a bull) whose penis has been amputated, "''gomer''" Film exhibition, broadcasting, advertising * Teaser (trailer), a short film used to advertise an ...
of the game on May 18. The game's opening cinema was later posted for download on June 10. As ''Summer Days'' approached release, 0verflow announced on June 17 that it would host an autograph signing by the game's character artist, Junji Goto, from June 24 to 25 in Nagoya and Osaka respectively, and that a celebratory event would be hosted at the Kyoto Kaikan Hall from 11:00am to 7:30pm on June 23. Unfortunately for the company, ''Summer Days'' would not live up to its hype. On December 1, 2006, 0verflow posted that it would be attending Comic Exhibit 71, an anime convention, from December 29 to 30, selling ''Summer Days'' merchandise, such as phone cards and lanyards. Following a short merchandise campaign from January 1 to January 9, 2007, and the attendance of Dream Party 2007 in Osaka and Tokyo from April to May respectively, active promotion for ''Summer Days'' effectively ended.


Patches and recall

On June 22, 2006, the day before the game's release, 0verflow posted on their blog that a patch called 1.01B, at 1.25 GB, was being distributed through file hosting sites and BitTorrent as a successor to a 1.01A at 2.29GB. Customers were encouraged to use
BitComet BitComet (originally named SimpleBT client from versions 0.11 to 0.37) is a cross-protocol BitTorrent, HTTP and FTP client written in C++ for Microsoft Windows and available in 52 different languages. Its first public release was version 0.28. Th ...
and to
seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
the patch to others after download. On June 28, having discovered that the game had been released in a heavily bugged condition, 0verflow issued an apology to its customers, stating that work on patches had begun and would be distributed to players through BitTorrent and retail outlets at no charge. Players who had contacted the company would equally be sent copies of the patches in the mail. ''Holyseal.net'', a file hosting service that 0verflow had used for its patches, accounts that from June 24 to July 24, eleven additional patches, comprising 1.02B, 1.02, 1.03, 1.03B, 1.04, 1.04B, 1.05, 1.05B, 1.06, 1.07 and 1.09, totaling roughly 8.56GB, were released. On October 30 0verflow posted 2.01, the final patch necessary to bring the game to stable build. Two days after patch 1.06 had been posted on July 7, 2006, 0verflow announced that limited edition copies of ''Summer Days'' were found to contain uncensored sex scenes, a violation of their game rating partner's policy and Article 175 of the
Penal Code of Japan The Penal Code (刑法 ''Keihō'') of Japan was passed in 1907 as Law No. 45. It is one of six Codes that form the foundation of modern Japanese law. The penal code is also called “ordinary criminal law” or “general criminal law” as it r ...
. As a result, 0verflow issued a recall of the affected games. Customers who had purchased limited edition copies were asked to contact the company via mail for replacements; on October 11, 0verflow announced that renewals would be shipped out on October 27. As a result of the game's unprofitable recall, a rumor surfaced that 0verflow was forced to lay off half of its company employees, reported on at least once by ''New-akiba.com'', a Chiyoda-based online magazine for Akihabara.


Ports

''Summer Days'' was
ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to two other platforms. AiCherry, an
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
developer, announced on January 17, 2008, that it had picked up the game for development, releasing it as a DVD game on April 11. PalaceGame, a UMD publisher, also published the game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) on September 24, 2010.


Remake

News alluding to a remake or sequel of ''Summer Days'' called ''Shiny Summer Days'' surfaced on August 26, 2011, when 0verflow announced via their blog that support for ''Summer Days'' was being discontinued. Days later on August 31, the company began its first promotion for the new game, selling brand T-shirts which reportedly sold out on September 16. Promotions continued with the attendance of Dream Party 2011 in Tokyo on October 3, where 0verflow sold brand phone cards and ornaments, T-shirts and
dakimakura A ''dakimakura'' (; from ''daki'' "embrace" and ''makura'' "pillow") is a type of large pillow from Japan. The word is often translated to English as body pillow or waifu pillow. In Japan, ''dakimakura'' are similar to Western orthopedic body ...
cases. The game's official website went live on December 1, revealing the new story and characters, two making first appearances. A day later on December 2, 0verflow announced that retailers would begin accepting pre-orders on December 15, followed by a public release of the game's opening on December 6 and a subsequent promo on December 16. On February 2, 2012, a public trial of ''Shiny Days'' was released for download. Eight days later on February 10, 0verflow announced that the game had been postponed from its original launch date to sometime in late April. The company followed up this announcement on March 12, stating that a more specific date would be posted in the next couple of days. The date change was announced on Nico Nico Douga as April 27. ''Shiny Days'' received a North American release on September 29, 2015 through
JAST USA Jast may refer to: *Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project was merged with the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (CALF) project to make the Joint Strike Fighter program. *JAST USA *Jast, a member of the Dalek variants#Cult of Skaro, Cul ...
, with translation by former fan translation group
Sekai Project Sekai Project is an American video game publisher. They are best known for licensing and translating Japanese visual novels into English, but they have also published manga and other non-visual novel video games. History Sekai Project originated ...
. However, JAST USA announced that sex scenes involving the characters Kokoro and her classmate will be removed from the North American version of the game, due to the possibility of these scenes being considered
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
, which is a federal crime in the United States. These scenes can be added back via a patch that was made available for download three months after the game's initial release, though. The game was JAST's first new release from the ''School Days'' franchise since their '' School Days HQ'' release in October 2012.


Sales

In a national sales ranking of
bishōjo game A or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive girls". ''Bishōjo'' games are similar to ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' books in the way of narrative, in which the game tells a story but the player may make ...
s in ''PCNEWS'', a now-defunct
online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...
, ''Summer Days'' ranked as the number one game sold for the second half of June 2006, seventh most for the first half of July, twenty-fifth for the second half of October, before ending as the twenty-eighth and forty-eighth game for the first and second half of November. ''Getchu.com'' recorded similar sales. ''Summer Days'' for Windows was the number one game sold during the month of its release but failed to chart any further thereafter, ranking eighth in the company for the overall year.


Media


Books and publications

''Summer Days'' never transitioned into a serialized
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 ...
, though it did make it into other print. The first of these instances was a
comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication t ...
by Junji Goto, fittingly titled ''Summer Days Comic Anthology'', published by Comic XO on October 25, 2006. Five days later, on October 30, Jive published two
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 ...
s; The ''Summer Days & School Days Visual Collection'' and ''Summer Days Visual Guidebook''. The final publication to be made was a
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 ...
written by Okada Ryuna, illustrated by Junji Goto, and published by Harvest Publishing under their Harvest Novels
imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...
on December 1.


Audio CD

Like ''School Days'', the original soundtrack of ''Summer Days'' was reproduced for distribution on June 23, 2006, by Lantis. The album contains all the game's background music, all of which was composed by KIRIKO/HIKO Sound, and theme songs performed by
YURIA YURIA (born October 10, 1967) is a musician and voice actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She was the lead vocalist and guitarist for Honey Bee, currently she is the lead vocalist and bassist for the Japanese punk rock band Pinky Doodle ...
, yozuca*,
Minami Kuribayashi is a Japanese singer, songwriter, lyricist and voice actress from Shizuoka Prefecture. From 2016 to 2019, she performed under the stage name Minami. Her involvement in the game and anime ''Kimi ga Nozomu Eien'', where she voiced the role of on ...
and
Kanako Itō is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung a large number of songs that have been used in a variety of video games, visual novels, and anime. Itō has sung songs for many visual novels, one song in particular bei ...
, totaling 31 tracks.


References


External links


Official AiCherry ''Summer Days'' website



Official ''Shiny Days'' website
* * {{School Days, state=expanded 2006 Japanese novels 2006 video games Bishōjo games Days series Eroge Japan-exclusive video games Light novels Visual novels DVD interactive technology PlayStation Portable games Video games developed in Japan Windows games