Line #15 VisualNovel/HourglassOfSummer


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_screen01.jpg]]
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3	->''From that first moment I wanted to protect you...''
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5	At the end of the school year, [[TheHero Kotaro Makimura]] resolves to confess his love to his crush, Kaho Serizawa, and plans to become her boyfriend by the end of summer vacation. On the way home from school, he runs into a cloaked stranger and accidentally gets covered with a mysterious powder. When he wakes up the next morning, he is shocked to find that [[TimeSkip it is the first day of September]]. As he returns to school, his friends tell him that his girlfriend Kaho has died in a traffic accident. But wait! He hasn't even spoken to her yet! And why is the second term suddenly started up when summer break was supposedly just around the corner?
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7	A VisualNovel released in Japan in 2002, ''Hourglass of Summer'' is unusual in that it (a) [[NoExportForYou was released in America]], (b) contains no hentai, and (c) can be played on a DVD player. It was later adapted into a two-episode OVA that was released [[NoExportForYou exclusively]] in Japan. While it never received the amount of success as other visual novels like ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' or ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', it is still [[CultClassic fondly remembered]] by Western audiences as their first foray into the visual novel genre.
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9	----
10	!!Provides examples of:
11	* AnimeChineseGirl: TP Lee Jane.
12	* BeautifulDreamer: Mana watches you sleep [[spoiler: after you rescue her from her suicide attempt.]]
13	* BittersweetEnding: A couple of the "Bad Endings" are this.
14	* CassandraTruth: DownPlayed. Ai and Tomomi don't flat-out reject Kotaro, when he tries to tell them about future tragedies you've witnessed. But they don't believe him at first.
15	* ChildhoodFriendRomance / GirlNextDoor / PatientChildhoodLoveInterest: Ai.
16	* CompressedAdaptation: The game had a two-episode OriginalVideoAnimation released in 2004, around the same time the title hit store shelves in the United States. It tried to squeeze a ten-hour character route (Kaho's true ending route, to be precise) into a 45-minute anime, and general consensus is that it did not do a good job. There's a distinct lack of explanation of many major plot points (the time-traveling aspect, most notably), some things no longer make sense (again, time-traveling), and the pacing seems to suffer due to being so tightly crammed into such a short runtime
17	* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Tomomi, Mana, and Kaho.
18	* CuteLittleFangs: Ai.
19	* DownerEnding: {{Video Game}}s have plenty of opportunities for these, and this one falls right into line. A couple of the "Bad Endings" are {{Bittersweet\|Ending}} though.
20	* EarCleaning: One of three choices of compensation for doing Ai a favor, should Kotaro demand such.
21	* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Their school is a magnet for students from far-away homes. Although the school skimps on [[SarcasmMode luxuries]] such as air conditioning.
22	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Kaho. Kotaro says that flat-out, pondering out loud over Kaho.
23	* FestivalEpisode: Kotaro must choose once and for all [[spoiler:between Kaho and Ai]].
24	* GenkiGirl: Ai is very excitable and quite clumsy.
25	* GirlishPigTails: Lee Jane.
26	* GoodGuyBar: Paradise Cafe is about as close to this trope as you can get in a high school setting.
27	* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: Ai and Kotaro, in Ai's ending.]]
28	* HiddenDepths: One of the major draws of the story, ''everyone'' has more to them than one would expect.
29	* HotLibrarian: Tomomi. Kotaro constantly talks about how beautiful she is with her glasses off. [[NerdsAreSexy Not that she]] [[HotTeacher doesn't look just as beautiful with them on...]]
30	* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: Mana, by jumping off the roof of the hospital.]]
31	* {{Irony}}: Mana's route is the only route where you ''can't'' save Mana from her injury (except for Tomomi's, which breaks off before Mana appears).
32	* MissingMom: Ai's mom died when she was very young. Kaho's mom is also gone.
33	* NakedFirstImpression: How Kotaro is introduced to Mana. [[spoiler:[[TimeTravelTenseTrouble Chronologically, anyway...]]]]
34	* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Kotaro has a minor day-drop ability, which is enhanced and manifests itself when Lee Jane inadvertently dumps the powder over him.
35	* OutOfFocus / DemotedToExtra: Mana, [[spoiler:after preventing her accident]] in every route but her own. Especially in Tomomi's route, which can be beaten without encountering Mana at all.
36	** She also has precisely zero screentime in the second OVA episode.
37	* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: [[spoiler:In Mana's route she breaks her leg and can no longer competitively swim. When asked about it by some children at the end, she calls it her reminder from God that she is human.]]
38	* PiggybackCute: Ai, any time Kotaro carries her on his back or on his bike. Also [[spoiler:when Kotaro carries Kaho on his bike]].
39	* ResetButton: As a TP, Lee Jane is capable of this.
40	** [[spoiler:Tomomi's route.]]
41	** A few times where Kotaro (or the player) behaves badly, [[spoiler: Lee Jane resets the scene, giving him another chance]].
42	** In such a case, if he persists a second time, [[spoiler: Lee Jane resets him to the beginning of the game]].
43	* RoadCone: Generally in use throughout, but one choice is an extremely obvious fork in the road between Kaho and Ai. (Though Lee Jane's ending may also be a possibility at the time.)
44	* RomanceGame: The Bishoujo type.
45	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Kotaro's first day jump sends him to the first day of school in the fall, when he learns of Kaho's death. This sets the entire plot in motion, to avert her death.
46	* ShoutOut: In his opening narration, Kotaro recalls a scene from a book where a cat is looking for a [[Literature/TheDoorIntoSummer door into summer]].
47	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Is it Ligene or Lee Jane?
48	* StableTimeLoop: Plenty of them.
49	** Kotaro gets a clue about his desperate last-ditch plan to save Kaho, [[spoiler:sending letters to Kaho and Tomomi]] before he comes up with the plan. It's a StableTimeLoop if Kotaro (or the player) notices the clue, and uses it. It's YouAlreadyChangedThePast if Kotaro forgets, but independently comes up with the right solution. It's MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight if the Kotaro tries the wrong tactic.
50	* ShrinkingViolet: Maho, soft-spoken and very shy. Probably comes from upbringing, thanks to her MissingMom and strict artist father.
51	* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:Tomomi's ex-boyfriend, Oonuma.]]
52	* SugarAndIcePersonality: Mana is very cold on the outset, but her route shows she can be very girly and stubborn when the occasion calls for it.
53	* ThirdPersonPerson: Ai.
54	* TimePolice: Lee Jane is a rather incompetent one.
55	* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: Oh, yes.
56	* TrainingFromHell: Takeshi puts Kotaro through a [[DownplayedTrope light]] version of this [[spoiler: in preparation for his boxing match.]]
57	* [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Unlucky]] or VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Ai, depending on how you play your cards.
58	* TheUnpronounceable: Lee Jane's real name.
59	* UpdatedRerelease: The original release was clean, but the Japanese PC rerelease added H-scenes into it.
60	* VitriolicBestBuds: Kotaro and Takeshi. Mana even comments on it, comparing them to a [[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine manzai]] duo.
61	* YamatoNadeshiko: Kaho. [[HiddenDepths On the surface anyway]]. Once you are invested in her route she shows her true self.
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Context VisualNovel / HourglassOfSummer