Title: ナツユメナギサ
Developer: Saga Planets
Release Date: 31st July 2009
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 20+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
This tale takes place on the man-made island known as “Hope”. It is an island of eternal summer surrounded by lush forests and sandy beaches with a landmark “Christmas” tree.
The protagonist Nagisa is young man who washed up on the shores of Hope with no memories or belongings. He ends up staying on the island and attending the local high school. One afternoon, he is approached by a strange figure who asks him to contact some female students who rarely attend classes. Reluctantly he accepts, and with the backdrop of preparing for the upcoming the school Christmas festival, Nagisa begins to get closer to these girls.
At the end of these long summer days, just wait awaits Nagisa?
Thoughts
Natsuyume Nagisa (Natsunagi) is the summer installment of Saga Planets’ four seasons series and is generally regarded as one of the better titles in the series. Given that I have been working my way through the four games it should be no surprise that Natsunagi was on my backlog. So did it manage to live up to the heights some of the other titles have had?
Out of all the four season games, Natsunagi at first glance appeared to be my type of game – it has such cute and colourful character designs and the summer island setting was appealing. However, looks are quite deceptive and, unlike ComingxHumming, this is not a standard moege.
I was incredibly impressed with the overall plot of Natsunagi – both the individual routes and true ending were excellent. The game stuck to its themes very well and the pacing was good – I ended up binge reading this game in a few days because I needed to know what happens. The reader is taken on a real journey of emotions throughout the story and I was left in tears at multiple points. Do not play this expecting only happy endings, as you will be disappointed.
One unusual decision the game takes is to completely seperate Ayumu’s route/story from the main game and have it in its own section – with chapters unlocking as you progress through the other heroine routes. While this is definitely a brave choice, I think it works perfectly in this game and really helps to weave the story together.
It’s not often that I say this but all five heroines were extremely likable and had a good amount of character development in their routes. Nagisa as a protagonist was decent – he’s obviously limited because of his amnesia for plot reasons but he wasn’t notably bad.
Clearly Ayumu has the game’s true route and reveals exactly what is happening in the game which gives her a bit of an odd role as a heroine compared to the others. It’s hard to explain this without spoiling the story but I’ll just say that she was interesting and is for sure the true heroine of the game. I cried a lot in her ending/the true ending.
The other four heroines, while not as impactful in the true route, did generally have good individual route that focused on their issues and development. The romance here was of variable quality and pacing but this is a game where surprisingly plot is at the forefront.
Out of the four, Hitsuji was probably my second favourite heroine – she’s the cheery underclassman who works at a local cafe (and has the most adorable uniform). I found her route to be the best after the true ending also.
Haruka, the young ojou-sama who lives in an abandoned church with her maid, was also a highlight of the game and I found her interactions with Nagisa to be very fun. She’s just super cute while also having an emotive route so I can’t really ask for much more.
Maki is an eccentric girl who studies penguin colonies in the local forest and has set up camp there. This alone made her interesting but her backstory was perhaps the most surprising out of all the heroines and equally as tragic.
Finally we have Tsukasa – the student council president who is overseeing preperations for the Christmas Festival. Despite liking her character design a lot, I did feel that Tsukasa’s route was perhaps the weakest of this game. However, it’s probably because the others were so good as opposed to her route being bad per say.
With no less that three main artists – Hontani Kanae, Kozakura Ryou & Sesena Yau – it’s not surprising that the artwork in Natsunagi is a little inconsistent at times. I do think that the overall style and quality of artwork though is pretty nice and colourful, with it definitely being good for the time period the game was released. There was a good amont of CGs per heroine although I really wish Saga Planets would stop counting some group CGs under each heroine and just put it in “other” section of the gallery. That’s just me being pedantic though.
The game’s BGM was very fitting and enjoyable with a good mix of tracks. I enjoyed the vocal songs also. I’m starting to realise that Saga Planets definitely puts significant effort into their game OSTs and I’m definitely here for it.
Conclusion
My Score: 9/10
With it’s colourful cast of heroines and surprisingly deep story, Natsuyume Nagisa is not a fleeting summer dream but a cherished memory I will carry with me. I wouldn’t hesitate to call it one of the best galge I’ve had the pleasure of playing and would highly recommend it to those who are curious.
The final game I have left to review in the four seasons series is Kisaragi Gold Star which I have actually played recently but I will leave my final thoughts on it and the series as a whole on that review. What I will say is that Saga Planets has definitely become a company I will keep an eye on & will try and get through their back catalogue.
Thank you for reading!
Zettai Renai! 