Symphonic Rain
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese musical visual novel
developed by Kogado Studio
and first released as a limited edition version on March 26, 2004 for the PC
platform as part of a series of "music adventure
" games done by its Kuroneko-san Team; the regular edition followed on August 27, 2004. The game is rated for all-ages, and contains themes which revolve around romance and relationships. The game was later published and released in Taiwan
, Hong Kong
, Singapore
, and Mainland China
by T-Time Technology. Symphonic Rain was released twice more in Japan, first on June 24, 2005 as a collector's edition, and again on November 22, 2007 as a popular edition at a reduced price.
s, Symphonic Rain is highly text-based and most of the game requires little player interaction apart from clicking a few options presented to the player, usually dealing with where he wishes to head to after school. At certain points during the course of the story, the game switches into a "song-playing mode" where the player is required to hit keys to the beat of a background music
track, usually sung by one of the heroines of the game, guided by different-colored musical notes scrolling from the right of the screen to the left. Each one of the notes are inscribed with a letter on the keyboard, which the player has to press when the note reaches a boxed-up region beside the treble clef. Points are awarded for the accuracy of keyboard input, starting with zero points for an inaccurate attempt, eight points for being slightly off, and thirty-five points for being exact. The value of each exact attempt increases as the player successfully creates chains of such accuracy, breaking the chain when an error is made or becomes slightly off.
Exact attempts also raise the evaluation meter at the bottom left corner of the screen by a single point each (marked by a small ring, which lights up with every point earned). When ten of these rings are lit, a large circular lamp directly above lights up while the rings revert to their darkened state. Similarly, an inaccurate attempt will darken a ring or a lamp should there be no lit rings. A minimum of four lit lamps are required for the song to be evaluated as a "pass", and this directly affects the story in a usually positive way. Players who are not proficient with this "song-playing mode" can switch on the autoplay function in the menu to enable the computer to hit all the notes. However, in this mode, the score will remain at zero.
There are a total of six good endings and three bad endings. The player would have to complete the three main heroine's story (also known as the Da Capo scenario) before the Al Fine scenario is made available. In Al Fine, the world is shown through the perspective of Tortinita Fine, and many questions about the story are finally answered by the end of the scenario. Chris, the original protagonist, is voiced in this scenario while Tortinita is not. Da capo
and al fine are actual music terms and are both appropriate names for the story's parts in relation to the game's nature, as the story has to be repeated three times (one for each heroine) before ending with Al Fine's part of the story. After going through both the possible endings for Al Fine, players who return to Da Capo will make available Phorni's scenario (the "true end" of the game). The events that make up this scenario highlight the truth about Phorni and finally tie up all the loose ends of the story.
heritage named Piova where rain falls everyday. The locals there have adapted to this peculiar phenomenon, and carry on with their lives as if the rain were never there. No one uses umbrellas, or rain coats. The main character of the story is seventeen-year-old Chris, a Fortelle student of the famous Piova Communal School of Music (Scuola Comunale di Musica Piova, in Italian
). Separated from his childhood sweetheart Arietta when he left his home town for the city, he keeps in touch with her through weekly letters. Penning their thoughts on these letters, Chris treasures and keeps her weekly writings, for he had promised her that should his drawer become totally filled with them, he would return to her. The story begins during Chris's third year as a student, a few months before he has to take the school's final graduation examination: a stage performance. As an instrumentalist, he is required to search for a vocalist partner before he is eligible for the examination.
. Symphonic Rain was the third game in a series of games produced by the team, and Kuroneko-san is the only team to produce such games in Kogado Studio. Art direction and character design was headed by Shiro, and background art was provided by Kazuo Ebisawa of Ufotable
. The game's scenario was written entirely by Maoto Nishikawa who is credited as Q'tron for Symphonic Rain. Music in the game was written and composed
by the late Ritsuko Okazaki
through the music producing company Copyrights Bank, including collaboration with King Records. This was the last project, as well as the only visual novel, involving Okazaki due to her sudden death in May 2004.
playable only on a Microsoft Windows
PC
, and came bundled with a small figurine
of Phorni. The regular edition of the game was released in Japan on August 27, 2004. The game was released abroad in Taiwan
and Hong Kong
on November 11, 2004, and again on May 25, 2005 in China
. A collector's edition of the game was released in Japan on June 24, 2005, and was later released in Taiwan and Hong Kong on December 22, 2005. These versions were similarly made available to the Malaysian and Singapore markets around the same time. A downloadable version of the collector's edition was released in Korea
on September 18, 2007. A popular edition of Symphonic Rain was released in Japan at a reduced price from the original release on November 22, 2007.
on August 26, 2004 by Kogado Studio
. A single manga
anthology
volume entitled was released by Kogado Studio at Comiket 73
on December 29, 2007 as a limited edition, and thus was not widely distributed. The anthology contained four chapters written and illustrated by different people. The first chapter, , was done by Sakuya Yūki; the second chapter, , was done by Mū; the third chapter, "To Coda
", was written by Maoto Nishikawa and illustrated by Shiro, who also drew the volume's cover art; the fourth chapter, , was done by Pen-chan. Nishikawa also wrote a series of short stories
for Symphonic Rains five heroines which is available online at the game's official website.
In Symphonic Rain, the ten songs available for the player to play during gameplay were released on an image song
album entitled Rainbow released on May 26, 2004 by King Records. The songs on the album are sung by the voice actresses
of the game's five main heroines, and the late Ritsuko Okazaki
. A cover version
of the album entitled For RITZ featuring Okazaki singing all the songs was released posthumously on December 29, 2004 by King Records. The disc was produced as a memorial towards Okazaki, and included all ten songs from the original game, and "For Fruits Basket", the opening song of the anime
series Fruits Basket
.
Image songs
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
developed by Kogado Studio
Kogado Studio
Kogado Studio is a Japanese video game studio which has released strategy and bishōjo games for the MSX, MSX 2, PlayStation 2 and PC, including such titles as Gadget Trial, Little Witch Parfait, and Tristia of the Deep-Blue Sea...
and first released as a limited edition version on March 26, 2004 for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
platform as part of a series of "music adventure
Rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
" games done by its Kuroneko-san Team; the regular edition followed on August 27, 2004. The game is rated for all-ages, and contains themes which revolve around romance and relationships. The game was later published and released in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
by T-Time Technology. Symphonic Rain was released twice more in Japan, first on June 24, 2005 as a collector's edition, and again on November 22, 2007 as a popular edition at a reduced price.
Gameplay
Similar to other visual novelVisual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
s, Symphonic Rain is highly text-based and most of the game requires little player interaction apart from clicking a few options presented to the player, usually dealing with where he wishes to head to after school. At certain points during the course of the story, the game switches into a "song-playing mode" where the player is required to hit keys to the beat of a background music
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
track, usually sung by one of the heroines of the game, guided by different-colored musical notes scrolling from the right of the screen to the left. Each one of the notes are inscribed with a letter on the keyboard, which the player has to press when the note reaches a boxed-up region beside the treble clef. Points are awarded for the accuracy of keyboard input, starting with zero points for an inaccurate attempt, eight points for being slightly off, and thirty-five points for being exact. The value of each exact attempt increases as the player successfully creates chains of such accuracy, breaking the chain when an error is made or becomes slightly off.
Exact attempts also raise the evaluation meter at the bottom left corner of the screen by a single point each (marked by a small ring, which lights up with every point earned). When ten of these rings are lit, a large circular lamp directly above lights up while the rings revert to their darkened state. Similarly, an inaccurate attempt will darken a ring or a lamp should there be no lit rings. A minimum of four lit lamps are required for the song to be evaluated as a "pass", and this directly affects the story in a usually positive way. Players who are not proficient with this "song-playing mode" can switch on the autoplay function in the menu to enable the computer to hit all the notes. However, in this mode, the score will remain at zero.
There are a total of six good endings and three bad endings. The player would have to complete the three main heroine's story (also known as the Da Capo scenario) before the Al Fine scenario is made available. In Al Fine, the world is shown through the perspective of Tortinita Fine, and many questions about the story are finally answered by the end of the scenario. Chris, the original protagonist, is voiced in this scenario while Tortinita is not. Da capo
Da capo
Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning . It is often abbreviated D.C. It is a composer or publisher's directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space. In small pieces this might be the same thing as a repeat, but in larger works D.C...
and al fine are actual music terms and are both appropriate names for the story's parts in relation to the game's nature, as the story has to be repeated three times (one for each heroine) before ending with Al Fine's part of the story. After going through both the possible endings for Al Fine, players who return to Da Capo will make available Phorni's scenario (the "true end" of the game). The events that make up this scenario highlight the truth about Phorni and finally tie up all the loose ends of the story.
Plot
Symphonic Rain takes place in a fictional city of ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
heritage named Piova where rain falls everyday. The locals there have adapted to this peculiar phenomenon, and carry on with their lives as if the rain were never there. No one uses umbrellas, or rain coats. The main character of the story is seventeen-year-old Chris, a Fortelle student of the famous Piova Communal School of Music (Scuola Comunale di Musica Piova, in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
). Separated from his childhood sweetheart Arietta when he left his home town for the city, he keeps in touch with her through weekly letters. Penning their thoughts on these letters, Chris treasures and keeps her weekly writings, for he had promised her that should his drawer become totally filled with them, he would return to her. The story begins during Chris's third year as a student, a few months before he has to take the school's final graduation examination: a stage performance. As an instrumentalist, he is required to search for a vocalist partner before he is eligible for the examination.
Main characters
- (in Al Fine only)
- The main protagonist of the game, whom you play as. A seventeen-year-old who came to the town with his childhood friend Tortinita to attend the music school. He is a third-year student of the keyboard-like instrument Fortelle, and dreams to become an accomplished musician. Apart from Tortinita and Asino, he virtually has no other friends at the school. A laid-back person, he is very talented at music.
- A seventeen-year-old childhood friend of Chris who is likewise attending the music school, and arguably the leading female of the cast. The younger twin of Arietta, she is an active girl with a strong personality. Tortinita is a third year vocalist student of the school, and as such has the option of being able to give a solo performance for her graduation performance. Her nickname is Toruta. She has liked Chris ever since they were young, but since Chris chose Arietta, she decided to hide her feelings even though she started liking Chris before her sister did. After the accident, Chris and Torta's families decided to send them to music school in order to help Chris recuperate. They eat lunch together in the school cafeteria almost everyday.
- The elder twin sister of Tortinita. She stayed in her hometown while her sister and Chris went to attend the music school, seemingly because she lacked the ability and talent, though the truth is that she is in a coma. A quiet girl who's good at cooking and domestic work, she is introduced at the beginning as Chris' girlfriend, and they communicate every week by sending letters to each other. Her nickname is Arie.
- The former president of the student's council, Falsita is a talented third year vocalist student who's searching for a Fortelle-playing partner for her graduation concert at the end of the year. She appears to be a gentle and graceful girl, but is known to be highly calculative and demanding, and is popular with the students of the school. She often does favors for people (such as writing a speech for the teacher), and works part-time at a restaurant, making her very busy. Her nickname is Fal.
- A fifteen-year-old Fortelle student who loves to sing. She is the daughter of the famous Fortelle player Grave Cesarini and hence is constantly pressured by her father to follow in his footsteps. She is a shy girl who hides in the abandoned school building to practice her singing in secret, away from her father's notice. Her nickname is Lise.
- A small, fairy-like creature no taller than 14 cm and possessing tiny, translucent, fluttering wings. But, even though she is so small, she can sing and speak at a normal person's volume. Despite having wings, she cannot rise above a certain height. Phorni is the self-declared, 'fairy of music' who shares the room with Chris ever since he moved in. Apart from Chris, no one is able to hear her, see her, or touch her. She enjoys singing (which she is very good at), and would pester Chris into playing the Fortelle so that she can sing along. She has a habit of saying "miyah" when she is surprised.
Supporting characters
- Chris' best and only male friend, he supports Chris from the side and seems to be very popular with girls. He had originally planned to partner with Falsita, but it is later revealed that she was only using him to obtain information about Chris and dumped him soon after.
- Cordell is a strict but impartial teacher of great repute in the school. She is liked by many of the students there.
- A nobleman who is both Liselsia's father and a famous Fortelle player. He looks at his daughter's efforts in singing with great disdain and frustration, and this has resulted in him employing rather drastic means to force his daughter to follow in his footsteps.
- The grandmother of the Fine twins, she chose to live in the city because of her love for music. She lives together with Tortinita and gives much moral support to her. She is quite fond of Chris. Although nearly blind, she is very good at cooking.
Development
Symphonic Rain was produced by the Kuroneko-san Team, one of seven development teams that make up Kogado StudioKogado Studio
Kogado Studio is a Japanese video game studio which has released strategy and bishōjo games for the MSX, MSX 2, PlayStation 2 and PC, including such titles as Gadget Trial, Little Witch Parfait, and Tristia of the Deep-Blue Sea...
. Symphonic Rain was the third game in a series of games produced by the team, and Kuroneko-san is the only team to produce such games in Kogado Studio. Art direction and character design was headed by Shiro, and background art was provided by Kazuo Ebisawa of Ufotable
Ufotable
is a Japanese animation studio founded in October 2000 and located in Nakano, Tokyo Prefecture. A unique hallmark seen in many of their works is a claymation sequence.-TV series:*Weiß Kreuz Glühen *Mobile Suit Gundam SEED...
. The game's scenario was written entirely by Maoto Nishikawa who is credited as Q'tron for Symphonic Rain. Music in the game was written and composed
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
by the late Ritsuko Okazaki
Ritsuko Okazaki
was a Japanese singer-songwriter born in Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. She first made her professional debut with the single, Kanashii Jiyū / Koi ga, Kiete Yuku.-Personal:...
through the music producing company Copyrights Bank, including collaboration with King Records. This was the last project, as well as the only visual novel, involving Okazaki due to her sudden death in May 2004.
Release history
Symphonic Rain was first released as a limited edition version in Japan on March 26, 2004 as a DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
playable only on a Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, and came bundled with a small figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
of Phorni. The regular edition of the game was released in Japan on August 27, 2004. The game was released abroad in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
on November 11, 2004, and again on May 25, 2005 in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. A collector's edition of the game was released in Japan on June 24, 2005, and was later released in Taiwan and Hong Kong on December 22, 2005. These versions were similarly made available to the Malaysian and Singapore markets around the same time. A downloadable version of the collector's edition was released in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
on September 18, 2007. A popular edition of Symphonic Rain was released in Japan at a reduced price from the original release on November 22, 2007.
Art and writing
An art collection entitled Symphonic Rain Digital Picture Collection was released as a CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
on August 26, 2004 by Kogado Studio
Kogado Studio
Kogado Studio is a Japanese video game studio which has released strategy and bishōjo games for the MSX, MSX 2, PlayStation 2 and PC, including such titles as Gadget Trial, Little Witch Parfait, and Tristia of the Deep-Blue Sea...
. A single manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
volume entitled was released by Kogado Studio at Comiket 73
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
on December 29, 2007 as a limited edition, and thus was not widely distributed. The anthology contained four chapters written and illustrated by different people. The first chapter, , was done by Sakuya Yūki; the second chapter, , was done by Mū; the third chapter, "To Coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
", was written by Maoto Nishikawa and illustrated by Shiro, who also drew the volume's cover art; the fourth chapter, , was done by Pen-chan. Nishikawa also wrote a series of short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
for Symphonic Rains five heroines which is available online at the game's official website.
Music
Image song
An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album for an anime, game or dorama that is usually sung by the seiyū or actor of a character, in character...
album entitled Rainbow released on May 26, 2004 by King Records. The songs on the album are sung by the voice actresses
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
of the game's five main heroines, and the late Ritsuko Okazaki
Ritsuko Okazaki
was a Japanese singer-songwriter born in Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. She first made her professional debut with the single, Kanashii Jiyū / Koi ga, Kiete Yuku.-Personal:...
. A cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the album entitled For RITZ featuring Okazaki singing all the songs was released posthumously on December 29, 2004 by King Records. The disc was produced as a memorial towards Okazaki, and included all ten songs from the original game, and "For Fruits Basket", the opening song of the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket
, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro...
.
Image songs
- by Ritsuko Okazaki
- by Okazaki
- by Mai NakaharaMai Nakaharais a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...
- by Nakahara
- by Masumi AsanoMasumi Asanois a Japanese voice actress from Noshiro, Akita who works for Aoni Production. She is also known by her nickname, Masumin.- Notable voice roles :Anime* Saga in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar...
- by Asano
- by Fumiko OrikasaFumiko Orikasais a Japanese voice actress and singer who works for Atomic Monkey. Her record label is Geneon Entertainment. Shopping is one of her hobbies. She is a skilled dancer, and is referred to as "Oririn" by fellow voice actors and fans. She also performed a fair number of anime insert and character image...
- "Hello!" by Orikasa
- "FayFairyA fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
" by Hiroko KasaharaHiroko KasaharaHiroko Kasahara is a popular seiyū and J-pop singer.She sang the ending theme song of the PlayStation 2 RPG, Shadow Hearts, titled Ending Theme ~ Shadow Hearts, and the ending theme of the PC and Playstation 2 visual novel Ever17: the Out of Infinity, titled Aqua Stripe- Notable voice roles :*... - "I'm Always Close to You" by Okazaki