Sukisho (also sometimes spelled Sukisyo, its formal title being Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shôganai!! or "I like what I like, so there!") is a Boys' Love Light Novel based off a Sukisho visual novel series, on which an anime was also based.
The story of Sukisho focuses on high school students Hashiba Sora, who lost his entire memory when he fell out of a 4th story window, and Fujimori Sunao, who just transferred to the same school after having disappeared for years. After being released from the hospital, Sora meets Ran, Sunao's second personality. Though Ran seems to despise Sora, he claims that Sora also shares his body with a second person, Yoru, who happens to be Ran's boyfriend. Unfortunately, Yoru and Ran tend to come out mostly when Sora and Sunao are asleep and tend to make the most of the limited time they have together. Hilarity and insanity ensue.
Though Sukisho has a definite BL theme, it also has many aspects of a mystery series, solving the secret of Sora and Sunao's Dark and Troubled Past. As the show continues, more evidence is uncovered that Sora's fall was no accident, Yoru and Ran are not what they seem to be, as well as some darker themes from when they were childhood friends. And then there's another party hiding in the shadows...
Note that while the anime is light and fluffy - the game is much, much darker, rated M, and may require a tissue.
Sukisho provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: One of the game endings has this.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Sunao, Nanami, Hiromu, Shiina, and even Sora gets put into a dress at one point or another.
- Bed Trick: Ran once tried to sleep with Sora pretending to be Sunao, hoping it would bring out Yoru. Yoru has done the same thing with various people just for fun.
- Cooldown Hug: Many of the characters, but Gaku takes the cake with this.
- Critical Annoyance: Every time Sora remembers something painful (or if Yoru is acting up enough) the most earsplitting sound effects would start to play. This was especially annoying because you were reading quietly during these scenes until it suddenly started blaring, and to unlock all of the endings (per game) you had to go through them over and over again.
- Dating Do-Si-Do: The endings can have Sora hooking up with Sunao, Matsuri, Hiromu, Chris, Minato, or Nanami.
- Defiled Forever: Ran is noticeably depressed for what Aizawa did to him, to the point that while he has sex with Yoru, he’s apologizing and crying over and over again for being “dirty.” This also makes him a bit of Stepford Smiler considering his personality.
- Did They or Didn't They?: There are some days that end with Ran and Yoru talking and then abruptly ending, and by morning the player isn’t sure if anything happened or not. Becomes hilarious when a clearly pissed Sunao wakes up in bed with Sora, and you know they did.
- Distant Finale: The After Stories novels.
- Downer Ending: The canon ending of the third game ends with Sunao and Shinichirou, who had been stabbed by Sora and Sunao, being taken away by Aizawa as Shinichirou and Nanami's apartment is completely destroyed.
- There’s another one in the fourth, where Sora believes that Sunao is so far gone that he stabs him, and it’s implied that he also stabs himself. They then “fall asleep” holding each other in a bed of blood. And flowers.
- Dream Sequence: The place where Yoru and Ran dwell is something like this, with the music changing and the background becoming an abyss of purples and blues. This is also where Yoru keeps watch over Sora’s memories, and forbids him to go near the chained door.
- Generation Xerox: Sei, Shiina, and Kitamura. Sei is literally a clone of Sora, Shiina looks like Nanami but is the Sunao of the group, and Kitamura, while not related to Matsuri, is the one who gets them into trouble.
- Harmful to Minors: Sunao had to watch Sora kill their parents.
- Hate Plague: Nanami gets drugged with one.
- Kill Him Already!: With highly twisted roles.
- Loose Canon: Moumate and Sweet Trap are two games in the series fandisk, which takes place partway into White Flower and covers Gaku's relationship with Shiina.
- Love Dodecahedron: All over the place.
- Sora gets his fair share by virtue of being the main character. Canonically Sunao, Hiromu, and Minato are in love with him.
- While Nanami and Shinichirou are an item, they're not immune to this either. Aizawa wants Shinichirou for himself, and Chris also has a crush on Nanami, while Shinichirou's quasi-Split Personality Minato has an unusual fondness for Sora.
- Nagase and Shiina likes Gaku. Gaku likes Nagase and Shiina equally. Shiina might also have a crush on Nagase. Meanwhile, Nakahara is in love with Nagase..
- Maybe Ever After: Gaku, Nagase, and Shiina get together at the end of White Flower with the latter two still squabbling over the former. Gets deconstructed in After Stories where the relationship is putting considerable strain on all its players, and Nakahara's potshots start leaving obvious bruises.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Both of Sora’s eyes turn yellow-green during his psychotic state.
- Older Than They Look: Nanami and Shinichirou are supposed to be in their early thirties by the last game, but it looks as though they've gotten younger.
- Omega Ending: Chock full of it. Some of which include Yoru and Ran Happily Married, the Phantom Five's antics, and a few special character endings.
- Pair the Spares: Nakahara and Hano hooking up in the supplementary material.
- Porn with Plot: The game. Comes with its genre, really.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Aizawa is Nanami's Psycho Ex-Boyfriend.
- Rape as Backstory: In the second game, we learn that in the time he was in the lab, Sunao was raped by Aizawa and his men.
And he was left there as a child. - The Reveal: The first is when Sora realizes the boy he's been dreaming of leaving behind in a dark tunnel was actually a memory of Sunao, but the biggest one happens in Rain, where Sora learns he killed both of his and Sunao’s parents under Aizawa’s Mind Rape, all in front of Sunao’s eyes.
- Time Skip: The final game, White Flower, begins several years after the previous game's Downer Ending.
- Torture The Hypotenuse: Aizawa's actions are entirely based on getting back at Nanami, who took Shinichirou away from him. Nagase lands in the same boat when he finds out that Gaku has fallen in love with Shiina. They both get better.
- Twist Ending: Sunao and Sora stabbing Shinichirou was really out of blue, considering that just before the pair had woken up to an afterglow, and it really did seem like they would get together.
