Title: なつくもゆるる
Developer: Sumikko Soft
Release Date: 28th June 2013
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 20+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
Similarly to the real world, there has been an outbreak of a new virus at a highschool in Japan. Luckily it’s a fairly remote boarding school so they managed to keep cases low but, for the students affected, they have to spend their precious summer vacation quarantined within the school grounds. Our protagonist Touma Shin is one of the unlucky few stuck at the school.
One evening he’s kicked out of his room by his roommate because the dude just wants some ~alone time~ and, whilst wandering around the school grounds, he comes across a strange young girl dressed in a gothic get-up. Upon further investigation, she’s been sneaking into the forest bordering the school and digging holes with her trusty shovel every evening for no apparent reason. This was just the start of a series of unusual events marking an unforgettable summer vacation.
Characters
Touma Shin
Touma is pretty much your average eroge protagonist – a nice dude with a perverted sense of humour. Generally fairly reliable and is one of the more sensible members of the group. He’s a member of the school’s marine biology club.
Sagiri Shiho (CV Arisugawa Miyabi)
Shiho is a first year student at the academy and is the girl Touma meets that fateful night. She claims that catching the virus is what caused her hair to turn its unsual silver colour and is pretty self-concious of it. Shiho is pretty anti-social and is reluctant to join in with any group activities, and has a firey personality at times. She views Touma as both a threat and potential friend. She carries around a shovel with her most of the time.
Touma Himeka (CV Moriya Misono)
Himeka is Touma’s younger sister and isn’t actually a student at the academy or infected by the virus. But, upon learning that her dear brother wouldn’t be coming home for yet another school vacation, she took it upon herself to travel across the country and sneak into his dorm to spend the summer with him. Himeka is a sweet, gentle girl who clearly loves her brother a lot. Her pure personality leads to her being called angelic by some of the other characters.
Mizuna Rine (CV Kimura Ayaka)
Rine is the president of the marine biology club and a good friend of Touma. She’s a bright and energetic girl who acts as the leader and mood-maker of the group. She does tend to be a little eccentric with her word choice at times. Rine carries around a toy platypus called Wau.
Kashima Yuuri (Cv Miru)
Yuuri is the student council president and, as such, is a very hard-working person. She has a strict personality and is reluctant to join in with the group, preferring to spend her summer catching up on her work in the student council room. She can be a little cold at first but is a kind girl.
Artwork
Character design and artwork for this game was handled by Sasai Saji, whom also worked on Spring & Autumn installments in this series. The SD artwork was by Ichiri.
Sound
Opening: Natsu no Okurimono – Nakae Mitsuki
Ending: Natsu o Okurumono – Nakae Mitsuki
The game’s BGM was composed by TGZ Sounds, the group that worked on the BGM for the other games in the four seasons series.
System
Whilst the actual game mechanics are pretty standard, Natsuyuru has an enforced play order of:
Shiho → Himeka → Rine → Yuuri → True
These are presented as chapters that you select after clicking the start option at the game menu.
My Thoughts
Natsuyuru is the second title in Watanabe Ryouichi’s “four season sci-fi series”, although the games don’t exactly have an enforced playing order. Given that I enjoyed the first game in the series, Harukuru, despite the budgeting problems did Natsuyuru manage to build upon these strong foundations?
First and foremost, I really do want to stress that I was impressed with and enjoyed the sci-fi aspects in this game. The author goes into quite a lot of detail about complex concepts but there is some sort of explanation for everything in the game (even the heroines’ appearance). This is definitely the kind of game that you find yourself doing extra research about the science and concepts just because it’s actually interesting.
One of my minor gripes with harukuru was the fact that the game’s grand reveal was essentially an info dump. Natsuyuru is an improvement in this regard, dropping the reader breadcrumbs of information throughout before the final revelations. It meant that the game worked more as a multi-route mystery.
However, because there is a true route and the way this route is written, it inevitably leaves the reader with a slight sense of dissatisfaction with regard to the other heroine routes. They simply don’t have the same level of importance or impact after reading the true ending, which made me sad.
Speaking of heroines, all four were pretty likable and eccentric in some way or another. I’ve noticed that this series’ heroines tend to be a little weird so you’ll probably either love them or hate them.
I actually think that this is the best of the first 3 games in this series in terms of artwork (obviously comparing the final game made years later under a different company with likely a bigger budget would be unfair). There is a lack of SFW CGs but the artwork is of generally good quality.
I understand that one of the things that makes this series unique is the writers use of ero humour and how this contrasts with the hard sci-fi story being told. Now, I’m fine with all sorts of ecchi jokes and such but for me I draw a line when it comes to rape jokes. I don’t like them and don’t think they’re funny or appropriate in any situation. Clearly the author of this game has a different view and Natsuyuru features an excessive amount of these jokes. What makes it even worse is that there is one non-consensual H-scene and another of dubious consent so the whole thing just made me feel uncomfortable.
Final Thoughts
My Score: 7.5/10
Natsuyuru is a game with a great baseline story that is highly let down by the authors overuse of tasteless jokes. It makes it difficult for me to fully judge or recommend this title but, if you are aware of its shortcomings & quirks, then the hard sci-fi story is worth the read due to how rare it is to find stories of this type in galge.
Thanks for reading!
Zettai Renai! 