First Name Basis / Visual Novels

Tomoya gets promoted to First Name Basis.

Examples of First-Name Basis in Visual Novels.

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• In CLANNAD, Tomoya and Nagisa originally referred to each other with their last names. Fuko tries to convince Tomoya and Nagisa to call each other 'Tomoya-kun' and 'Nagisa-chan'. Nagisa switches to 'Tomoya-kun' with some difficulty, but Tomoya finds he can't add the '-chan' at the end, and just refers to her as Nagisa from then on. Of course, when Fuko disappears, Tomoya finds himself wondering when and why he started calling Nagisa by her first name.
  • Kotomi only responds (at least at first) to Tomoya (or anyone for that matter) when called Kotomi-chan. Taken to ridiculous extremes when Sunohara visits the library.
    Sunohara: I got- completely ignored. She won't react to small talk. It pissed me off, so I threw books everywhere and knocked bookshelves over, but she still ignored me.
  • Also a subtle plot point in Kyou's route in the Visual Novel. Tomoya refers to Kyou by her first name (by Kyou's request when they first met, to differentiate her and Ryou), and calls Ryou by her last name, Fujibayashi. She goes out of her way to try and get Tomoya to call her Ryou, which he does, somewhat... but it doesn't come naturally and they don't grow closer romantically. It IS Kyou's route after all.
• Moe Mortelli is the only character in Daughter for Dessert with a surname, and the other characters go back and forth with which name to call him. Kathy sometimes uses the nickname "Donuts."
• In Dear Devere before their Relationship Upgrade, Angela and Devere address each other as "Mr Devere" and "Miss Angela Bard," respectively. Afterwards, they use each other's first names.
• In Koihime†Musou a lot of emphasis is placed on the fact that certain characters address each other by their private names, like between Chouhi and Kannu.
• In Princess Lover!, Teppei is referred to as 'master' by the servants. Given his middle-class standard of living previously, this unnerves him and he asks for a less formal name, just using his name (first or last isn't indicated). Yuu refuses and they eventually decide on 'Teppei-sama', as she uses for the rest of the show.
• In School Days, Makoto and Sekai, who sits next to him in class, are on a first name basis, while he still calls his girlfriend Kotonoha by her last name, Katsura. Kotonoha's sister points this out as something unusual, and they move onto a first name basis after that.
• In Steins;Gate, whenever Okabe calls Kurisu by her real name instead of one of his myriad nicknames for her, it's a sign things are getting serious.
• In SHUFFLE!, the five girls have their own honorifics for calling Rin, even when they first met.
  • Kaede and Sia: "Rin-kun."
  • Nerine: "Rin-sama."
    • Lycoris: "Rin-kun."
  • Primula: "Rin."
  • Asa: "Rin-chan."
  • Even the fathers of Sia and Nerine have their different ways of addressing Rin. Forbesii calls him "Rin-chan," and Eustoma calls him "Rin-dono."
    • Not to mention their sensei calling him "Tsuchi," and Mayumi calling him "Tsuchimi-kun." Though these last two appear to be subversions of the trope at hand.
• In the ero-game Heart de Roommate, the Genki Girl of the True Companions bestows nicknames on those she feels sufficiently close to. The male protagonist is upgraded from "parasite" to his actual name, and one of the other girls is actually nicknamed "Moe Moe".
• Most of the girls in Fate/stay night call Shirou by his first name. Saber does it without much prompting, and Rin just starts calling him that for no particular reason. Ilyasviel von Einzbern prefers that everybody she meets or murders call her Ilya, and she calls Shirou by his first name whenever she isn't calling him onii-chan. (In Rin's case, this actually grates on Shirou, and he unhappily compares himself to an adopted stray cat in his head, though he is also too scared of Rin to complain.) The only close girlfriend of Shirou that doesn't initially call him by his first name is Sakura, who prefers to be formal to her sempai.
  • In Sakura's case, it's clearly more than just formality, because in the HF true end she continues doing it even when he's not even her sempai any more (Taiga calls her out on this). Most likely, it was originally formality (when she first came over, she didn't know him that well), but she kept doing it long after it would still be appropriate because she lacked the confidence to ask if she could address him by his name, and in the end it evolved into a kind of pet name for him. It's notable that she always calls him Sempai, never "Emiya-sempai" or "Shirou-sempai", even in the presence of other people who she would also address as "Sempai" (most notably Rin, until Shirou convinces Sakura to call her Nee-san to her face halfway through HF).
• Majikoi! Love Me Seriously!: Like everybody else in the family, Yamato calls Kazuko "Wanko" and Yukie "Mayucchi", but in their respective routes he takes to calling them by their first name post-Relationship Upgrade.
• In his route in Hakuouki, Toudou Heisuke grants Friendly Address Privileges right from the start, citing the fact that he and Chizuru are about the same age. Harada asks Chizuru to call him Sanosuke just before the Sexy Discretion Shot that cements their Relationship Upgrade. In Okita and Saito's respective good endings, she begins calling them by their given names without prompting.
• In Little Busters!, all of the original five childhood friends use each other 's first names without honourifics because they're extremely close. Though certain other implications of the habit are lampshaded when Komari wonders if Riki and Rin are dating because of this familiarity, and when Riki points out that he says all of his friends' names this way, she stares at him in shock for a moment before admitting that she thought of something very weird just then.
  • Other than that, Komari and Haruka both get upgraded to first name basis during the common route (Haruka because she doesn't like her surname), Kud is always called by her first name because she wants to sound more like a foreigner, Kurugaya is almost always referred to by her surname as she's very embarrassed by her first name (and because she made a rule that only her future partner would call her by her true first name), while Riki and Mio never stop calling each other by their surnames because they're both too damn polite. (Though funnily, the awkwardness of having two friends with the surname Natsume forces Mio to refer to them by their first names instead, even though she barely knows Kyousuke compared to Riki.)
• In Ace Attorney:
  • Franziska Von Karma is usually addressed as "Ms. Von Karma", sometimes out of respect but usually out of fear (and with good reason, as she's known to whip people for less). Miles Edgeworth, however, does not hesitate to address her as "Franziska", which is a sign of their closeness as adoptive siblings. At the end of the final case in Trial and Tribulations, Maya Fey also addresses her as this while thanking her for all she did to help her.
  • When Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey first met when the latter defends the former, they call each other "Miss Fey" and "Mr. Wright." At the start of the first game, when Phoenix is a lawyer working in Mia's law office, they call each other "Chief" and "Wright." After Mia dies and becomes Phoenix's Spirit Advisor, she informs Phoenix that she isn't his boss anymore, and they start calling each other "Mia" and "Phoenix." Notably, Mia is one of the few who doesn't refer to Phoenix by his surname or "Nick."
• Danganronpa: While in the English localizations of the games everyone is on a First-Name Basis, the same does not apply to the original Japanese versions:
  • In the first game, Aoi Asahina refers to her best friend Sakura as "Sakura-chan." This is also the reason why Leon has to ask her who Sakura is during chapter 1, as he is more used to hear her being referred to as "Oogami-san", which is Lost in Translation due to the students using First-Name Basis on the English version.
  • Ibuki Mioda from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair calls everyone by their first names and with the affectionate honorific "-chan". Similarly, Mahiru Koizumi calls all the other girls by their first names and "-chan", but is on a Last-Name Basis with the boys. Sonia Nevermind, being a foreign exchange student from Europe, is always addressed to by her first name by the other students.
  • The use of first-name basis becomes a plot point at two moments in the second game. At the end of the second trial, Fuyuhiko starts calling Peko by her first name, once it's revealed that they've known each other since childhood and she's his bodyguard. Near the end of the fifth trial, once it's revealed that Chiaki Nanami is the traitor and she's working with Monomi, Monomi switches from calling her "Nanami-san" to the much less formal "Chiaki-chan."
  • In Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Toko Fukawa and Komaru Naegi initially don't get along, and Toko calls Komaru "Omaru" (the Japanese word for a toilet), while Komaru calls her "Fukawa-san." Later on in the game, after the two officially become friends, Fukawa starts calling Komaru by her first name, while Komaru starts calling her "Toko-chan." In the English localization, in which all characters use their first names, Komaru starts calling Toko "Toki" after the two become friends.
  • In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Angie uses first names on everyone else, and everyone else calls her by her first name. The reason for this it's implied to be Angie being a foreign exchange student from Indonesia.
  • In Shuichi Saihara and Kaede Akamatsu's Love Hotel event from V3, in which the two are playing the roles of a long-time boyfriend and girlfriend, Kaede insists that Shuichi calls her by her first name, rather than "Akamatsu-san." The English localization has Kaede ask Shuichi to call her "sweetheart" instead.
• In Higurashi: When They Cry, the members of the game club all call each other by their given names, even the Love Triangle of Keiichi, Rena, and Mion. The fact that there is no stereotypical Relationship Upgrade from family name to given name helps to emphasize that Higurashi is more about friendship than about romance.
• In Ikemen Sengoku, the English translation has all characters call the player character by her first name except for the extremely polite and deferential Mitsunari who uses the title "Lady" for her because he considers her official status as a princess of the Oda clan to be above his own status as a vassal of Hideyoshi. If you choose to romance Mitsunari, he eventually becomes troubled that the other Azuchi warlords are on more familiar-speaking terms with you (though he's not entirely sure just why) and the two of you agree to let him start calling you by just your first name.
• In Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair, all the main cast call each other by their first names, with the only exceptions being Runa, who uses last names and "-san" on all her classmates, and Kamen, who rudely calls Raiko "Shinpuku" if she isn't calling her an insulting nickname like "Miss Grumpy." In the good ending, however, Kamen, grateful for Raiko saving her, and glad to see that Raiko is still the person she once knew, starts calling her "Raiko-chan," with Raiko herself making note of and being surprised by that change.
• In Piofiore: Fated Memories, in almost every route, there comes a moment where Lili is asked by the love interest to call them by their first name rather than of referring to them as "signore". Likewise, Lili would then ask them her "Lili" instead of either her full name or "signorina".
• Kindred Spirits on the Roof
  • Initially, Seina Maki and Miki Aihara are on a Last-Name Basis- Seina uses "-sempai" on Miki and Miki uses "-san" on Seina, switching to "-chan" after they become friends. After Miki forgives Seina for kissing her in her sleep, she asks Seina to call her by her first name. Miki later calls Seina by her first name to get her to stop attacking an upperclassman.
  • Shortly after disciplinary committee member Aki Ariu and quasi-delinquent rocker Youka Koba become friends, Aki asks Youka to call her by her first name, and it takes Youka a little while to come around.
  • Yuna and Nena initially call each other "Miyama-san" and "Toomi-san," but they become friends through their mutual friend Ano, so they switch to "Nena-san" and "Yuna" wby the time of the summer camp.
  • Kiri Tsurugimine calls her teacher Tsukuyo Sonou "Tsukuyo-chan," rather than "Sonou-sensei," occasionally prompting Tsukuyo to weakly protest. After they get into a relationship, Tsukuyo calls Kiri by her first name when they're alone, but insists on calling her "Tsurugimine-san" in front of others.

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