is an

adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

created by Japanese game developer

Lump of Sugar is a Japanese company specializing in adult visual novels. Founded in April 2005, their first game, ''Nursery Rhyme'' was released later that year. Their third work, '' Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity'', was released in 2008, and was later adapted i ...

and released on January 26, 2018. The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

in ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' follows a branching plot line that offers pre-determined scenarios and options for the

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

to choose their actions. The game mainly focuses on the appeal of the four main female characters.

Gameplay

''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' is a

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

in which the player assumes the role of Seiji Sasaura. Most of the gameplay is spent reading text, representing the story's dialogue as well as Seiji's inner thoughts. The text is displayed alongside character sprites. The player encounters different CG artworks throughout the game. It has multiple different routes for the story to take based on the player's decisions. The game revolves around the four main heroines, following a branching plotline where the player chooses different "routes" for each of the characters. The game consists almost entirely of game sprites displayed alongside text, to make the emotions of the characters clearer. There are also pre-rendered CG scenes, often at pivotal points in the story. The game depicts the main character performing sexual acts with the four main characters.

Plot

Setting

The story is set in a world where humans and beings referred to as "Mahoroi" coexist on Earth. The Maharoi possess animal features and spiritual abilities and live longer compared to their human counterparts. Humans have coexisted with these beings for hundreds of years. The story is set in its entirety in the town of Tsugumomi, with events taking place in various locations in Konoha's house and outdoors in the woods. The story is set during autumn.

Story and characters

The story follows , the main character, as he moves into the town of Tsugumomi because his parents need to spend time overseas for business. They stay with a family friend, called Konoha, who lets him stay in her home. Seiji used to live there when he was young, but has lost all memory of that time. The story begins with Seiji and his sister, called , are on a train on the way to Tsugumomi. Suzuna is presented as having a close, lovey-dovey relationship with her brother Seiji. When they come to the Konoha's house, they meet , a

maid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...

employed part time at Konoha's house who is shown to be inept and have a stoic personality. She leads Seiji and Suzuna to the Konoha's room, where they meet , a half-Mahoroi that is over 200 years old with a childlike appearance. They also meet in the town of Tsugumomi, who has forgotten everything about herself other than her own name and that the main character is her "master". The story then branches off into four different routes, one for each character. In Suzuna's route, she is shown to be lazy (leaving even dressing herself for her brother to do) and has a mischievous personality, constantly teasing and trying to seduce her brother. The protagonist remarks that her personality reminds him of the

Cheshire Cat The Cheshire Cat ( ) is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. While now most often used in ''Alice''-related contexts, the association of a "Chesh ...

. She is shown to be hopelessly in love with him, but whenever he confronts her about it, she acts flustered and defensive. She is very envious of Momiji and her openness with Seiji. In Momiji's route, the "master and pet" dynamic runs throughout her story arc. Mojimi and Seiji grow closer throughout the story, and even when Seiji tries to distance himself from her (for her own sake), she begs to be with him again. The second half of her story focuses on her true identity, which is revealed in the common route as well. She is very expressive and feels strong emotions towards the protagonist, showing no inhibitions and a lack of understanding of social norms. She is also excitable and displays dog-like behaviour, for example: going for walks, playing fetch, being petted, and drinking milk. In Konoha's route, the early story focuses on the affection the protagonist shows towards Konoha, he takes on the role of her guardian. The latter part of the story focuses on the time they spend together, giving more insight into her personality and the father-daughter dynamic between them, as well as Konoha's internal struggle between whether to be a mother figure, or be more childlike as her outward appearance would suggest. She is shown doting on others throughout her route and is shown to have a penchant for alcohol in the evenings. In Kazuha's route, the story focuses on the protagonist's past. The history between the two races (humans and Mahoroi) is also elaborated on, and the origin of the Mahoroi is explained. The protagonist also teaches her to think more positively about life, as she is extremely worried about her Mahoroi powers being too weak. The characters also help her with her maid duties when she slips up. The game also has three minor characters: , , and . Minori is Seiji's classmate, she is described as mysterious and is always "on the edge of her seat". Ieshia becomes friends with Seiji after he moves into Seiji's school. He is described as "a handsome and sportsmanlike guy", but inside he is not. Kurishima, although young-looking, is very mature. She is very serious and makes a good balance for the more laid-back Konoha.

Development and release

''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' was developed by

. The storyline of the game was written by Mizuki Satori, Tetsujin, and Yoshii Hajime, with art designs by Moekibara Fumitake and Kanade Nakoto. Mizuki and Moekibara worked together on the creation of a

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

and Mizuki was satisfied with Moekibara's performance, so he wanted to work with him again for the development of the game. They were inspired by the opinions of users and staff during the development process. For example, ''

Kemonomimi is a form of anthropomorphism in anime, manga, and games where '' moe'' qualities are given to non-human beings (such as animals, plants, supernatural entities and fantastical creatures), objects, concepts, or phenomena. In addition to ''moe' ...

'' heroines is a theme that was added to the game after following the advice of users. According to the producer, KawausoP, the concept of ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' is "coexistence and coprosperity between different species". The title is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

for the story itself. refers to the divine connection between protagonist and heroines, and refers to the

character arc A character arc is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story. If a story has a character arc, the character begins as one sort of person and gradually transforms into a different sort of person in response to c ...

over the game, describing the characters as metaphorical leaves that change and mature over time. Moekibara was able to design the characters of the game "freely". He drew the characters based on their "personality and atmosphere". In the interview, Moekibara described the background setting of ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' as "a mixture of Japanese traditions and modern culture", so he also designed the character's clothing based on this atmosphere. Moekibara gave Kazuha's maid costume as an example; he said that her costume was designed to a mix of ''

Hakama are a type of traditional Japanese clothing. Originally stemming from Ku (), the trousers worn by members of the Chinese imperial court in the Sui and Tang dynasties, this style was adopted by the Japanese in the form of in the 6th c ...

'' and

Apron An apron is a garment worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...

. During another interview, Moekibara explained that they designed ''Kemonomimi'' of heroines to be fluffy so that they can fit with the atmosphere of game as a whole. They also paid attention to the animal features and the clothing of the heroines when it came to erotic scenes, he said that he looked for "the feeling of ". The game was able to be pre-ordered on the Lump of Sugar website from August 25, 2017. They held a campaign for the customers who pre-ordered the game from August 25, 2017, to December 3, 2017, in which they were offered a poster with Momiji printed on it. Lump of Sugar first released a free trial of the game for download on November 24, 2017. Multiple talk shows and distribution meetings were held all over Japan until December 22, 2017, in which ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' related gifts being handed out. The Download Edition, First Press Limited Edition, and Premium Edition of ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni'' were released by Lump of Sugar on January 26, 2018, compatible up to

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

/ 8.1/ 10. The Premium edition of the game was bundled with some gifts, such as a key case and

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

Merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

such as

dakimakura A ''dakimakura'' (; from ''daki'' "embrace" and ''makura'' "pillow") is a type of large pillow from Japan which is usually coupled with pillow covers depicting manga and anime characters. The word is often translated to English as body pillow, ...

covers and posters were also included as bonuses when customers bought the game from Sofmap and other shops. A regular edition was released on March 9, 2018. On December 25, 2020, a popular edition of the game was released, which had a lower price than other editions of the game.

Music

The opening theme of the game, , was created by Kokomi and Mizuno Daisuke, sung by Kicco. The full version of the song is not played during gameplay, but a CD containing the full version as well as other songs from the game was released with the game. A two CD original

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album was also produced.

Reception

On Getchu.com, a redistributor of visual novel and anime products, the first press limited edition and premium edition of the game ranked as the fifth and eighth best selling

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 c ...

for the month of its release. According to the Japanese magazines ''Megastore'' and ''BugBug'', it was the best and second best selling bishōjo game when it first appeared in the monthly ranking, respectively. The game's soundtrack was ranked ninth in the Bishōjo Game Awards 2018 "Music Category". Panzer Komori from TG Smart compared its setting to '' Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity'' before the release, and pointed out the selling points of the game are ''Kemonomimi'' heroines and computer graphics. He expected that the game will have a well-done love story and romantic atmosphere. He was also curious about whether the game would make the fans of Lump of Sugar happy because of the similar setting. Nekoko from ''BugBug'' published a positive review of the game. He wrote that the ''Kemonomimi'' heroines designed by Moekibara were "very cute" and considered Konoha's appearance, which he described as "childlike" and said she was his favourite character overall. Nekoko also praised the relationships between the characters, which he believes were all well portrayed. When ''BugBug'' introduced ''Wakaba-iro no Quartet'', another visual novel developed by Lump of Sugar, it noted that Moekibara's popularity was based on his performance on ''Tayutama'' and ''Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni''.

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
*{{vndb, 21717 2018 video games Bishōjo games Eroge Japan-exclusive video games Lump of Sugar games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games Windows-only games