Title: はるまで、くるる。
Developer: Sumikko Soft
Release Date: 27th April 2012
Age Rating: 18+
Length: ~20 Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
“Born and reborn again and again, we are ignorant of the beginnings of birth;
Dying again and again and yet again, we are nescient of the ending of death.”
– The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury, Kuukai.
The protagonist of this tale, Kazuki, is currently spending his Spring Break living in a dorm with 4 slightly eccentric girls. There’s not much around in this rural area except a run-down school and a strange tower so tall that it almost seems to touch the heavens. Being in such close quarters with these girls, he’s started having romantic relations with them. All was going peacefully well until one of the girls, Shizuka, gathers the group one day and announces that since they’re all sleeping with Kazuki anyway they should form a harem in order to improve their group relations. Is this the start of Kazuki’s Happy Harem Life or is there actually something more going on here?
Characters
Kazuki
Kazuki likes to think that he’s a cold-hearted and icy guy but he’s actually quite kind, although is perhaps the only tsukkomi of the group. He has a perception of himself that he’s “broken” and not normal.
Nitou Harumi (CV Serizono Miya)
Harumi is a kind-hearted and cheerful girl who tends to act as the mediator of the group, although this duty does make her feel awkward sometimes. She is in charge of the cooking duties and is actually an adept cook. She has an interest in foraging and is very knowledgeable about it so often goes for walks in the mountains surrounding the dorm looking for food for everyone.
Kazuha Shizuka (CV Takeoka Milieu)
Shizuka takes on the leader role of the group and is the one who suggests the harem plan in the first place. She could most easily be described as eccentric and has a habit of describing things as “wonderful” (素敵だわ!). Her speech pattern is more refined than everyone else at the dorm but she doesn’t really act like a typical ojou-sama. Shizuka likes to carry around her beloved crowbar called “Edgar-kun” and has threatened Kazuki with it on more than one occasion. She does also claim to be a magical girl, with a control over electrical devices.
Miki Akio (CV Kawashima Rino)
Akio is easily the most sensible member of the group and is the only one who disagrees with the Harem plan at the start, although the others do eventually manage to talk her round. She enjoys fishing so can often be found at the beach trying to catch something for the group to eat. Akio also enjoys reading, especially mystery novels, and likes discussing books with Fuyune.
Shiren Fuyune (CV Aoba Ringo)
Fuyune is the youngest of the group and certainly acts like it, with a childish demeanour and a tendency to overreact. She enjoys making (dirty) jokes and can normally be counted upon to bring some humor to any situation. Fuyune hates studying so complains whenever the group go to school for self-study. She loves plushies and her room is full of them.
Artwork
There were 2 main artists that worked on this game – Sasai Saji & Shiwasu Horio. The former handled artwork for Akio and Fuyune, with the latter handling artwork for the other 2 heroines. The SD artwork was done by Hirose Madoka.
Sound
Opening: Haru no Hi – Denkishiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan
Ending: Haru ni Mau Omoi – Marie
The BGM for the game was composed by SHIM, whom worked on the next 2 games in this “4 seasons” series as well.
System
This game has a title screen that changes once you finish the true route, unfortunately I forgot to take a screeshot of the original one (sorry!).
The actual UI design of this game was very simple but effective enough, there wasn’t much to say here.
The route system of this game is very unique – on your first playthrough you’re locked into the Harem route. After this, there’s only two routes – Harumi’s & the true route. The true route contains episodes for the other heroines. I’d recommend playing Harumi’s route before the true one because it makes the most sense.
My Thoughts
Harumade, Kururu is the first game in the “Four Seasons Sci-Fi Series” that I’ve heard numerous good things about over the years. What really inspired me to play the series though is learning that the fourth (and presumably final?) installment is in development, to be released later this year. Was it worth finally picking up or should I have left this series in backlog hell with so many others?
Now this is actually quite a difficult game for me to fully judge, and thus review. Mainly because I could see that the writer’s intentions behind the game were really good, but there was clearly a lack of budget (or, perhaps even just a mismanagment of resources?). It becomes mostly apparent at the end of the game, where there’s more than one scene that either feels rushed or could’ve done with a CG which was a little disappointing. Like I said, the overall story and message of the game was still very solid though.
One of the most controversial things about the game is the harem route – which is essentially 15 consecutive H scenes strung together with little inbetween. Now, I’m not really overly-enamoured by most H scenes in eroge and these were no exception – sure the first few scenes were fine but by the end of this route I simply wanted put out of my misery. I understand the intention was to sell the reader the moe moe harem concept but this could’ve been done with half the scenes, and then the budget could’ve been saved for CGs during important story events! But alas, this was not the case.
Aside from the high number of ero scenes, the game also tends to utilise a high amount of dirty jokes. Again, I don’t mind it and it certainly made the game unique but there were just some scenes that it wasn’t necessary imo.
Something I thought cute was that each of the heroines has a kanji representing one of the four seasons in their name. What I found most interesting though is that Harumi (who you’d assume is the “main” girl since she has Haru/Spring in her name and that tying into the title of the game) is truly the exact opposite of the game’s main heroine, since you can theoretically read through the true ending of the game without ever touching her route. I’m going to assume this was intentional and I thought it was a clever way to subvert the usual naming tropes of characters.
Speaking of Harumi’s route, it was nothing less than weird. Like, it was a truly “wtf am I reading” kind of affair. Even after finishing it and having time to reflect, I’m not entirely sure what to think about her character – she’s certainly not my favourite heroine in this game but I thought the writer’s take on this specific trope was pretty unique.
I’ll cover the other heroines and their episodes in the order they appear in the true route. First up is Akio, whos episode feels almost like one of the mystery novels that she enjoys so much. This episode was surprising but decent enough & Akio is a likable heroine given that she’s the least eccentric.
Fuyune’s episode starts off super cute, perhaps not quite what you’d expect given Akio’s episode. However, this is where you learn of exactly what is going on in the story. The actual Sci-Fi concepts and set-up are pretty interesting and even plausible to an extent. However, the presentation of this information to the reader wasn’t exactly the best and is an hour long info-dump.
The period between the end of Fuyune’s episode and the start of Shizuka’s episode was one of the best and most emotive – it definitely felt that we as the reader could understand Kazuki’s emotions towards his current situation.
Finally we have Shizuka’s episode and it marks a tone shift from the end of the previous. Honestly, there’s so many absurd moments that you simply cannot help but smile and Shizuka’s optimistic attitude towards everything is slightly infectious. I personally really enjoyed the way the game ended, despite the fact the latter part was slightly rushed.
The artwork in the game was pretty inconsistent and some of the CGs seemed a little zoomed in. There’s a real lack of SFW CGs for each heroine and I personally question some of the scenes that did get CGs – the images themselves are kinda boring? The SD CGs are disgustingly adorable though!
The BGM and voice acting in the game was both pretty decent, with nothing to complain about here. I think Aoba Ringo in particular did a great job with Fuyune. As for the vocal songs, I really like the OP in particular.
Final Thoughts
My Score: 7/10
Despite how ridiculously long the harem route of this game is, once you get into the true route, this is a good Sci-Fi story with some pretty unique heroines. It’s a shame that this game was clearly made on a very tight budget, as there was a lot of potential. That being said, it’s the first game in a series and it was still good so I definitely plan to play at least the summer & autumn games (because I already own them).
I’d recommend this game if you want more of a plot-heavy title but don’t mind a lot of ecchi humour and the afformented harem route.
Thanks for reading!
Zettai Renai! 