is a Japanese

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 ...

series by Cocktail Soft (a part of F&C, later F&C FC02).

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 ...

and

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 ...

have been based on the games. The games are all set around

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s in the fictional "Pia Carrot" chain, and most of the female characters are waitresses at these restaurants. The individual restaurants in the chain are called "1st", "2nd", etc. 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 "Pia Carrot" also opened in real life as a

cosplay restaurant are theme restaurants and pubs that originated in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, around the late 1990s and early 2000s. They include and , where the service staff dress as elegant maids, or as butlers. The staff treat the customers as '' masters'' ...

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 ...

, Japan.

List of titles

;Game titles ;Animation titles # ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!!'' (1997–1998; 3 episode

hentai Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but rather an abnormal sexual desire or act, as an abbreviation of . In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exi ...

OVA) # ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 2'' (1998–1999; 3 episode hentai OVA) # ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 2 DX'' (1999–2000; 6 episode OVA) # ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! -Sayaka no Koi-monogatari-'' (Sayaka's Love Story) (2002; movie)

''Welcome to Pia Carrot''

The first game in the series is called ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!!'' and was initially released in 1996 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...

on the

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

PC-9800 Series The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more ...

and for

Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows ...

. The game was later released for the

PC-FX The is a 32-bit home video game console developed by NEC and Hudson Soft. It was released in 1994 and discontinued in February 1998, as NEC's final home video game console. Based on the NEC V810 CPU and CD-ROM, it was intended as the successor t ...

in 1997, and for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the su ...

in 1998 by KID. There is also a

OVA with 3 episodes based on this title.

Characters

Yusuke Kinoshita : (''Welcome to the Pia Carrot!!!''),

Masami Kikuchi is a Japanese voice actor and narrator. He was affiliated with Troubador Music Office until March 2010. He then worked as freelance until April 2011, when he was employed by Kenyu Office. Filmography Television animation *''Mobile Suit Gundam ...

(''Welcome to the Pia Carrot 2'') : Yusuke Kinoshita is the protagonist of the ''Welcome to Pia Carrot''. In ''Welcome to the Pia Carrot 2'', he is 2nd's chief, and 3rd's temporary chief in 2.2 Satomi Morihara : Shouko Inaba : : Shouko Inaba is the childhood friend of Yusuke. Reika Kokubo : Yukiko Kawai : Shiho Kannaduki : : 1st's manager in this title Yukari Tachibana : Saori Imai : Kiyomi Kitagawa : : Yusuke's cousin Rumi Kinoshita : : Yusuke's younger sister Yasuo Kinoshita : Yusuke's father and owner of the Pia Carrot restaurant chain Kaori Tachibana : Yukari's mother Saeko Imai : Saori's stepmother Airi Kashikura : Additional character on Saturn version

Staff (Game)

* Scenario: Jane Inamura (Ryuichi Inamura) * Original Picture: Tatsuki Amaduyu, CHARM, Nak-Mura (Takeshi Nakamura), Yukihiro Matsuo (additional character on Saturn version) * Music: Tomohiro Takatsuka (except Saturn), Juri Goto (Saturn only) ** Opening for PC-FX Version: Ko Ku Ha Ku ** :Lyrics: Yukie Sugawara ** :Music: Yukie Sugawara ** Insert on Saturn Version: Miracle Sunshine ** :Lyrics: Juri Goto ** :Music: Juri Goto ** :Vocal: Megumi Miduki ** :Voice Actors:Izumi Mito as Satomi Morihara, Minami Nagasaki as Shoko Inaba, Hina Hatono as Reika Kokubo/Yukari Tachibana, Hotaru Natsuno as Yukiko Kawai, Kaori as Shiho Kannazuki, Satomi Kodama as Saori Imai, Mebu as Kiyomi Kitagawa, Akane Yoshino as Airi Kashikura

''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 2/2.2/2.5''

''Welcome to Pia Carrot 2'' is the first true sequel to "Pia Carrot", set four years later than the first game. The original version (released in 1997) was for

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturi ...

and was later released for

(1998 by NEC Interchannel),

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, and was offici ...

(2001 by F&C FC02; this version also runs on Windows 95, 98, 98SE and Me) and the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

(2003 by NEC Interchannel). The Dreamcast release is the same as the first disc of the previously released "Pia Carrot 2.5". It is well known for its theme song "Go! Go! Waitress". Two OVAs based on this title were released, the first being an adult title with 3 episodes, and the second ("Welcome to Pia Carrot 2 DX") was an all-age series with 6 episodes. "Welcome to Pia Carrot 2 DX" was licensed by

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 ...

. ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 2.2'' is a branch of "Pia Carrot 2" and is set 4 months after that game. It was released for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

by NEC Interchannel in 2000. ''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 2.5'' is a combination set of "Pia Carrot 2" and "Pia Carrot 2.2" for the

. This pack title contains 2

GD-ROM GD-ROM (an abbreviation of "Gigabyte Disc Read-Only Memory") is a proprietary optical disc format originally used for the Dreamcast video game console, as well as its arcade counterpart, the Sega NAOMI and select Triforce arcade board titles. I ...

Characters

Kouji Maeda : (''Welcome to the Pia Carrot 2''),

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 in '' Gundam SEED'' & '' Gundam Seed Destiny'', he was ch ...

(''Welcome to the Pia Carrot 3'') : Protagonist of "Pia Carrot 2" and "Pia Carrot 2.2" Azusa Hinomori : Mina Hinomori : : Azusa's younger sister Tsukasa Enomoto : Completely transferred to 2nd in ''2.2'' Ryoko Futaba : : 2nd's manager. Substitute chief because Yuusuke has gone to 3rd in ''2.2'' Aoi Minase : : Ryoko's friend. 3rd's chief waitress in ''2.2'' Sanae Enishi : Mikiko Shinohara : Harue Yamana : Jun Kagurazaka : Kaoru Yamana : Harue's daughter Shinji Yano : Kouji's friend and Ryoko's cousin Tomomi Aizawa : Additional character on the "consumer version" in ''2'' (Saturn and Dreamcast) Yuki Kamizuka : Additional character on the "consumer version" in ''2'' Noriko Shima : Additional character on the "consumer version" in ''2''

Staff

;2 * Scenario: Ryuichi Inamura * Original Picture: Tatsuki Amaduyu, Misato Mitsumi, CHARM, Takashi Hashimoto (additional characters on consumer version) * Music: DOORS MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT ** Opening: Go! Go! Waitress ** Ending (consumer version): Iced Tea ** :Lyrics: Hajime Kanasugi & Bun Yoshida ** :Music: Bun Yoshida ** :Vocal: Miyuki Kunitake ;2.2 * Scenario: Hideki Shirane * Character Design: Tatsuki Amaduyu, Misato Mitsumi, CHARM, Takashi Hashimoto * Original Picture: Junji Goto * Music: DOORS MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

''Welcome to Pia Carrot 3/3.3''

''Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 3'' is the second true sequel to "Pia Carrot", set one year later than "Pia Carrot 2", and was released for the PC by F&C FC02 in 2001.

and

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 ...

versions were released by NEC Interchannel in 2003. In 2002, the anime

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

"Welcome to Pia Carrot -Sayaka no Koi-monogatari-" ''("Welcome to Pia Carrot - Sayaka's Love Story")'' was released, being the first movie based on an

eroge An ''eroge'' ( or , ''erogē''; ; a portmanteau of ''erotic game'' , ''erochikku gēmu'') is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. In 1982, Japan's Koei, founded by husband-and-wife team Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa (and later known for strate ...

. ''Welcome to Pia Carrot 3.3'' is a branch of "Pia Carrot 3" that is set one year after "Pia Carrot 3". It was released for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

by NEC Interchannel in 2004.

Characters

;3 Akihiko Kannazuki : : Protagonist of "Pia Carrot 3" and "Pia Carrot 3.3", and Shiho's younger brother Sayaka Takai : Tomomi Aizawa : Akemi Hasegawa : : 4th's temporary chief. 4th's chief in ''3.3'' (formally inaugurated after "Pia Carrot 3") Natsuki Iwakura : : Akemi's friend and 4th's Manager Miharu Fuyuki : Nana Kimishima : Takako Kinoshita : Orie Amano : Noboru Kinoshita : Takako's nephew Seiji Motoki : Haruhiko Fuyuki : Miharu's younger brother Shiho Kannazuki : Akihiko's sister, and now 3rd's chief Satomi Kinoshita : 1st's Manager. She is already married to Yusuke Yuki Kamizuka : Noriko Shima : Kouji Maeda : Azusa Hinomori : ;3.3 Mina Hinomori : Tsukasa Enomoto : Chizuru Kinoshita : Shiori Kisaragi :

Staff

;3 * Scenario: Ryuichi Inamura * Original Picture: Takashi Hashimoto, Hiroya Fujimiya, Elan Hasumi, Hiro Suzuhira * Music: Kennichi Okuma (TWO-FIVE) ** Opening: Eien no story (The eternal story) ** :Lyrics: Don Mccow ** :Music: Kennichi Okuma ** :Vocal: Miu ** Ending: Koibito tachi no densetsu (The legend of lovers) ** :Lyrics: Don Mccow ** :Music: Kennichi Okuma ** :Vocal: Miu ** Ending (additional on consumer version): Happy-End kara hajimeyou ** :Lyrics: Don Mccow ** :Music: Kennichi Okuma ** :Vocal: Miu ;3.3 * Scenario: Ryo Masaki * Character Design: Takashi Hashimoto, Elan Hasumi,

Hiro Suzuhira is a female Japanese manga artist, character designer, and illustrator. She currently resides in Tokyo, Japan. Hiro Suzuhira and Aoi Nishimata have known each other from high school; their first work, ''Ritual'', was introduced in 1996. In 200 ...

, Kanata Minamino * Original Picture: Kanata Minamino, Elan Hasumi * Music: Kennichi Okuma (TWO-FIVE), DOORS MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

''Welcome to Pia Carrot 4''

''Welcome to Pia Carrot 4'' is the third true sequel to "Pia Carrot", and was released for the PC by Cocktail Soft in 2009. An

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

port was released on February 24, 2011 and a

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, 200 ...

version was released in 2012.

Characters

* Alice Sakuraba * Ayaka Kamine * Misa Hasegawa * Sayuri Mashiba * Sora Kitagawa * Yoshimi Sakuraba * Yuna Takigawa

Reception

In a 2007 survey of ''

Dengeki G's Magazine is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serial ...

'' readers, ''Welcome to Pia Carrot G.O.'' ranked 38th in a list of "the most interesting

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"; a five-way tie with '' YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world'', ''

Tsukihime is a Japanese adult visual novel created by the dōjin circle Type-Moon, who first released it at the Winter Comiket in December 2000. In 2003, it was adapted into both an anime television series, ''Lunar Legend Tsukihime'', animate ...

'', '' Tokimeki Memorial 2'', and '' Happiness!''

References

External links

Games

Official F&C website
* * * * * *
English Language Translation of Welcome to Pia Carrot (PC-FX)

Anime

Official Sentai website
* * * * {{Arms Corporation 1996 video games 1997 anime OVAs 1998 anime OVAs 1999 anime OVAs 2002 anime films Bishōjo games DOS games Dreamcast games Japan-exclusive video games Eroge Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Color games Hentai anime and manga OVAs based on video games PC-FX games Pink Pineapple PlayStation 2 games Sega Saturn games Sentai Filmworks Video game franchises Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games