Kisetsu o Dakishimete



"She came with the spring breeze. Why is she here? Why did she come back from my buried memories.....?"

Kisetsu o Dakishimete (季節を抱きしめて, lit.: "Embracing the Season"; translated as "In the Season of the Cherry Blossoms" in the game's instruction booklet) is the second entry in the interactive anime Visual Novel series Yarudora, produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and developped by Sugar&Rockets and Production I.G. The game was initially released in 1998 on Playstation 1, then re-released in 2005 on Play Station Portable and in 2009 on the Playstation Store.

Spring, in a little Japanese town. The main protagonist (i.e. the character controlled by the player), a 20-years old man, enters university and is greeted by his close friend Tomoko Kunitachi. He actually was a ronin for a year, due to a Heroic BSOD caused by the loss of the classmate he loved in his High School time, Mayu Sakurai. It was made worse by the fact he feels guilty for this, as he lost the courage to confess his feelings to her during their last conversation, and she died in a traffic accident mere hours later. Tomoko, whom he met at cramschool, and who fell deeply in love with him, helped him get back on his feet, and he's now partially back.

But as he and Tomoko are walking in the blossoming cherry trees-filled university's park, the main protagonist notice an unconscious girl under the "Hirenzakura" (="Cherry Tree of the Tragic Love"), a tree famous in the town for its centuries-long legend of a tragic love having occured at its feet, and as such is said that couples meeting there are fated to be separated.

As the protagonist rescues the girl, he has a shock: she bears an uncanny resemblance to his former love Mayu. When the girl wakes up, she says she has lost her memories. Seeing the plight of the girl, and troubled by her appearance that awakes in him wounds not quite healed, he joins her in her Quest for Identity. She'll decide to call herself Mayu, to the surprise of the protagonist.

And thus starts a Slice of Life Love Triangle story (as Tomoko, who openly claims her love for the protagonist and unilaterally considers him as her boyfriend, isn't pleased at all at his interest towards Mayu), in which the fantastic will invite itself in, as the secret behind Mayu's identity will unfold...

The "Spring" title of the four original Playstation 1 Yarudora games, Kisetsu o Dakishimete was directed by Mizuho Nishikubo (Ghost in the Shell movie, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, Patlabor 2 The Movie), and the character design is courtesy of Kaori Higuchi (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angel Sanctuary OVA).

'''BEWARE, this game is very story-driven. DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THE MARKED SPOILERS BELOW if you want to keep the full experience of the game. You Have Been Warned.'''

This game presents the following tropes:

 * Adventure Game
 * Berserk Button: Mayu really hates perverted men, and will not hesitate kicking the crap out of them.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Mayu performs one when the protagonist gets caught by a policeman, as he's mistaken for a pervert while he was waiting for Mayu in front of an all-female High School. Complete with an upbeat, cheerful variation of the game's Leitmotif as Mayu bails him out.
 * Big No: Mayu does this twice, both at key scenes (which can be both seen in trailers of the game). One of those is combined with Sparkling Stream of Tears, see below.
 * Butt Monkey: The main protagonist. Be it either being kicked by Mayu or taking a faceful of a sweets plate by Tomoko for being mistaken for a pervert, or being startled by Mayu appearing from behind and falling head-on trash bags, that guy never catches a break.
 * Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: When Mayu moves in the protagonist's flat, the protagonist deseperately tries to hide his erotic books. Unfortunately for him, Mayu finds one in the kitchen room. He tries to tell it's one of his friends who has left it there,.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Cherry Blossoms: The big theme of the game, as well as its Flower Motif.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Tomoko, full stop. This is the source of much drama in the game;.
 * Coming of Age Story: The storyline is, on a grander scale, a display of the protagonist coming to terms with the loss of his former love, and deciding to go towards the person who's currently the dearest to him.
 * Console Cameo: A Playstation 1 appears among the stuff the Otaku Friend has in his room.
 * Cool Big Sis: The Sexy Lady.
 * : Mayu's true identity..
 * Dizzy Cam: Used for dramatic effect at the beginning of the  sequence.   This spinning shot is also part of the game's opening demo.
 * : A key part of the Sexy Lady's past.
 * Drives Like Crazy: The protagonist has a tendency to not drive very safely in the sequences where he rides his scooter.
 * Ending Tropes:
 * : In regards to, given the following...
 * : What will happen with, no matter the ending you'll get. Get a Bad Ending?  . Get a Normal Ending?  . Get a Good Ending?.
 * Faceless Protagonist: The only time his face is seen in game, is when there's a reflection of himself in the window of his working office, and even then it's only a partial and unclear one due to darkness. Otherwise, his face either appears off-screen, or hidden inside his scooter helmet.
 * Fetal Position Rebirth: The "" storyline has an event where the player character dreams of floating in the darkness in fetal position, then  . Seeing this event is mandatory to get the storyline's Good Ending.
 * Flower Motif: The Cherry Blossoms.
 * Foreshadowing: On the box's front cover, no less.
 * Fortune Teller: The protagonist works part-time as the writer of the fortune-telling column of the town's magazine. He doesn't believe in fortune-telling and has very filmsy knowledge of it, so he writes whatever comes into his mind; yet, he's concidentally accurate enough that his column is the most popular part of the magazine, and that people blindly follow his advices, as demonstrated when he uses the column to meet Mayu (who strongly believes in this column, all while not knowing the protagonist is the one writing it) again..
 * The Glomp: Mayu gives one to the protagonist if you choose to volunteer to help her in her Quest for Identity. That sequence is also part of the game's opening demo.
 * Guide Dang It: Aside from the Hundred-Percent Completion and Last Lousy Point elements typical to the Yarudora series, this game in particular has 3 Bad Endings that absolutely aren't intuitive:.
 * High Class Call Girl: The Sexy Lady..
 * Hint System: Most of the Bad Endings have one of the main heroines, in chibi form, explaining where you screwed up. Those light-hearted hint sequences either reinforce the comedic part of the joke endings, or create a positive Mood Whiplash with the sadness-inducing or downright scary endings.
 * Identity Amnesia / Quest for Identity: The driving force of the game, and more specifically Mayu's storyline.
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: Mayu, who can't bear seeing hungry stray cats, and thus buys them pet food.
 * Leitmotif: The Ending Theme "Kisetsu o Dakishimete", which is used in various remixed forms throughout the whole storyline.
 * Love Triangle: Type 5 of Triang Relations, between Tomoko => the Main Protagonist => Mayu. Mayu likes the protagonist, but considers him more like a big brother.
 * Memento MacGuffin: The ring the Sexy Lady wears at her neck.
 * Necktie Headband: The Drunken Geezer, during the hanami sequence, wears one.
 * New Game+: Required to get several endings, as well as Hundred-Percent Completion.
 * : This is one complicated version of the trope the game has here. It also depend heavily of the storyline followed:
 * In  storyline,  ;
 * In  storyline,
 * Pinky Swear: Mayu and the protagonist do one, as he promises to help her searching for her identity.
 * Please Don't Leave Me:  begs this to the protagonist in the   sequence, after  . Depending on the flags you raised during the game, choosing to stay or not will lead to Good Endings, Normal Endings, and Bad Endings alike.
 * Race Against the Clock: Of the Celestial Deadline type. In  storyline,
 * Sailor Fuku: The blazer Mayu wears when she's first found is a plot point, as she and the protagonist use it to try and find the school it's affiliated to, and consequently discover her identity. It doesn't work, nobody they ask has ever seen this blazer. When following the  storyline, it's implied the blazer is.
 * Second Love: What the protagonist can become to  if you follow her storyline, and what Tomoko   can become to the protagonist if you follow their storylines.
 * Sparkling Stream of Tears: Mayu does this while running and tackling the Drunken Geezer, as,, she feels pain when the geezer starts breaking and shaking cherry tree branches in a drunken fit of rage.
 * Supreme Chef: Mayu. To her own confession, it was like her hands moved on her own when cooking: she and the protagonist deduce she must have been someone who's speciality was cooking before she lost her memories.
 * Trash of the Titans: What the protagonist's flat looks like. It's so messy there's even erotic books in his kitchen!
 * True Love's Kiss:.
 * Video Game Cruelty Punishment: As much as Tomoko's jealousy grate your nerves, do NOT slap her when the option is available (unless you're after Hundred-Percent Completion). This will land you a Bad Ending.
 * Visual Novel