Hatsuyuki Sakura (also known as Hatsuyuki Sakura: White Graduation) is a slightly older visual novel release, originally coming out in 2012 and finally being released in English in 2024. I’ve heard that it’s one of the best that Saga Planets has to offer, which is perhaps why it was released in English, despite being twelve years on.
Cold of Winter
Hatsuyuki Sakura is quite different from the Saga Planets titles localized before it (Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche and Kakenuke★Forward to Our Sparking Youth!). While it still has plenty of humorous moments, it’s a far more serious and at times somber story.
It follows Hatsuyuki Kawano, a young man who could be called harsh even at the best of times. He’s rough and rude, even in his internal monologue, which can be quite entertaining as a reader, but not so much for the person he’s calling a ‘braindead chick’ or worse. While kindness does shine through at times and some of it is to hide his real feelings, he’s not the most pleasant person and some of his comments cross the line into being inappropriately sexual and making threats. This rather extreme personality makes for an interesting protagonist.
Hatsuyuki comes across Sakura, a mysterious girl wearing a white dress in the freezing cold. We soon hear she’s in this town looking for ghosts. She says the town is currently under invasion, and she needs to stop it before the end of winter or everyone will die. This links into Hatsuyuki’s past and goals, leading to them working together.
It’s a pretty compelling hook. The opening explains some of the background details but leaves a lot of them vague or even misleading for a later reveal. It certainly grabbed me enough to want to find out more about the ghosts and a tragedy in Hatsuyuki’s past which influences his current actions.
Heroines and Romance
There are nine routes in Hatsuyuki Sakura, but a few are very short. In terms of romance though, there are five main heroines who each have their own quirks, some more than others.
Aya is a year older and appears rather easygoing at first, but she can get quite intense and challenges Hatsuyuki at times. At one point, she even calls him the most miserable human being that she’s seen. She has one of the most interesting routes in terms of events and lore. I also appreciated how parts of her story echo Hatsuyuki’s, which places them in a good position to understand each other. They both work in a café, which leads to some entertaining moments when trying to drum up business.
Yoru is a year younger and is the most sensible of the lot, which helps to balance out the personalities of some of the others. She calls out comments by Hatsuyuki and others and can act a little harshly herself, but she’s also easily flustered at times. Her route also reveals some interesting information about ghosts and what’s happening in this town and she has one of the most amusing dynamics with Hatsuyuki.
Shirokuma is a somewhat childish middle-school student, who claims to be from Russia. The mysterious boss of the café has them take her in as a worker. This route focuses a little less on the supernatural aspects. The way that romance is handled here is particularly different and we get to see a kinder if gruff side to Hatsuyuki as he takes care of her. That and constant teasing, which is fun.
Nozomu is more or less described by Hatsuyuki as a happy dimwit, and this isn’t exactly wrong. She’s a couple of years younger and admires him, wanting to also be a ‘badass’ and to be his ‘bro’. To achieve this, she speaks like she imagines one would, in a stereotype of a masculine way. Unlike Hatsuyuki though, she likes helping people and she’s pretty innocent and clingy. Her route didn’t feel as connected to the main plot as others, but it has some of the highlight moments of the story for me. Plus she just throws Hatsuyuki off with how off-the-wall she is at times, and it’s comical to see that happen to a character with such a harsh personality.
Finally, Sakura is an oddball who constantly makes terrible puns related to bunnies and always seems to be full of positivity. She’s the most involved in the main plot and her route brings everything together. Some of the moments between her and Hatsuyuki are particularly touching as well.
It’s worth reiterating that there are a lot of fun interactions between the group and spots of romance, but this is a rather plot-focused title compared to other titles that NekoNyan has published and it’s not exactly an uplifting one. It can be rather bittersweet and the comedy and cute moments are balanced with tragedy. I wouldn’t say it goes as far as the type of visual novels known as utsuge (depressing game), but it comes close at times.
Chapters and Routes
I thought the structure of Hatsuyuki Sakura was used well, though the best order could have been made clearer. Routes unlock after certain heroines’ routes are finished. As described in our walkthrough/guide, there is some flexibility in order, but I would recommend following the chapter order shown in the guide.
Some of the routes build on each other or are used to explore different parts of the story’s mystery. In particular, the prologue and Ran’s route help to set the scene and build a motivation for Hatsuyuki’s mission. Aya’s route takes place in the past, and the events have some level of importance in later routes. The other main routes add more background. Throughout them, little tidbits are revealed which slowly builds a picture, leading up to the final route.
The side routes felt a little pointless. The two side girls weren’t particularly likable and the two ‘routes’ for them only had three scenes each. The ‘Nemu’ route was just a few silly scenes too (which don’t actually even involve Nemu, the rabbit). They’re nice enough to have, but I didn’t think they added much of value overall.
Is Shirokuma an 18+ Middle Schooler?
Assuming that you’re playing the 18+ version of Hatsuyuki Sakura or using the patch (again, explained in the guide), you’ll find 19 adult scenes with no mosaics. These are all contained within the story. There is at least one scene where the absence of cut content will make things confusing in the all-ages version. The H scenes are fairly standard, with no particularly unusual types of content.
It probably is worth noting that while some suspension of disbelief is often required toward that ‘All characters are 18 or over’ disclaimer in these types of visual novels, between her appearance, childish personality, and that her storyline reinforces that she’s in the final year of middle school, it’s even more pronounced with Shirokuma. The way that some of her earlier scenes are handled is surprising but makes sense in the context this and of her story. If you’re not comfortable with this though, you won’t miss any important story if you skip through her scenes.
While I’d not say the adult scenes are particularly standout overall, I will note that I felt Aya’s final scene worked well to highlight the emotions at the time. I was also pleased to see that there was an obvious type of scene for Sakura and they went with it.
Visuals and Sound
There are quite a lot of CGs and variants in Hatsuyuki Sakura. On top of this, it uses smaller images as overlays at times and animation effects such as falling snow, the occasional moving sprite, and spinning backgrounds. The vast majority of characters have their own sprites too. While it’s perhaps not as impressive as some more modern titles, it certainly still looks great.
The music was a highlight here. It includes six vocal tracks. Notably, KOTOKO and fripSide are featured. I wasn’t as fond of Yuina’s Insert song “Down with the Merry Go Round”, but all the others were great. The background music was quite catchy and varied too. Both types were used well for the scenes, with fripSide’s vocal track “Hesitation Snow” used particularly well to build up excitement for climactic moments.
The voice acting is done well and the voicing is primarily done by experienced voice actresses with a lot of visual novel experience. Aya’s helped to give off a laid-back vibe, Nozomu’s brought energy, and the others worked well in their roles too.
Verdict
Hatsuyuki Sakura is a sometimes depressing story, but one well worth experiencing. It has a compelling plot and uses the visual novel format particularly well to build it.
HATSUYUKI SAKURA IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another SAGA PLANETS visual novel, you might want to check out Kakenuke★Forward to Our Sparking Youth!. We have also covered a wide variety of visual novels both originally in English and those localized from Japanese, which you can check out here.
Many thanks go to NekoNyanSoft for a PC review code for Hatsuyuki Sakura.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
