One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e

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One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
One ～輝く季節へ～ (One ~toward the shining season~)
Genre	Drama, Harem, Romance
Game
Developer	Tactics
Publisher	Tactics (Original PC version) KID (PlayStation version) AI System (PC bargain version) Nexton (PC full-voice version)
Genre	Eroge, Visual novel
Rating	18+ (PC versions) No rating (PlayStation version)
Platform	PC, PlayStation
Released	May 26, 1998 (Original PC version) April 1, 1999 (PlayStation version) September 14, 2000 (PC bargain version) January 24, 2003 (PC full-voice version)
OVA: One
Directed by	Morino Yousei
Studio	KSS
No. of episodes	4
Released	2001
Runtime	30 minutes (120 minutes total)
OVA: One ~kagayaku kisetsu e~ True Stories
Directed by	Fukumoto Kan
Studio	Cherry Lips
No. of episodes	3
Released	2003
Runtime	30 minutes (90 minutes total)

One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (One ～輝く季節へ～, One ~toward the shining season~^?) is a Japanese adult dating sim and visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of the joint company Nexton, and released on May 26, 1998.

Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel company Key, so this game is often considered roughly equal to or like one of Key's works. As this game was the last game published before the main staff quit Tactics to form Key, One is considered a forerunner to Kanon.

Two OVA series were created based off of One. The first, titled One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e was an all-ages OVA published by KSS in 2001 with a total of 4 episodes. The second series, by the title of One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e — True Stories, was adult in nature, and published by Cherry Lips in 2003 with 3 episodes.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Release timeline 3 Staff 4 Characters 4.1 Main characters 4.2 Supporting characters 4.3 Added characters 5 Eternal World 6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The main character, while living a peaceful daily routine, suspects that at some point these days will be lost. Due to this, he begins to seclude himself in the "Eternal World", a kind of world within his mind. One serves as an allegory with themes about feelings toward that which passes away and the bonds that keep us alive. With its gradual, heartwarming love parts, it makes players emotionally invested, and moves them by concluding the story with a dramatic parting and reunion. After this work was created, this became one of the standard styles for dating sims. For this reason, it is often said that this game launched the genre commonly referred to in Japan as crying games. Furthermore, the music from One has also received high ratings.

Also, the sister product to this work and the successor to the "Eternal World", One 2: Eien no Yakusoku (One2 ～永遠の約束～, One2 ~the eternal promise~^?) was released by another brand under the Nexton label, BaseSon.

The short-term sales of Moon., One's predecessor, did not match that of its predecessor and Tactics' debut title, Dōsei (同棲, "Live together"^?), so One was developed to be an easily guaranteed-selling school story. The orders from the president for development was to "make a game like (Leaf’s) ToHeart," and in the very early story, there is a strong resemblance in the conversations between the main character and his childhood friend and those from ToHeart. Later, in the middle of the work, the foundation for the whole story, the "Eternal World", is established, which, according to the design documentation published in the visual fan book, "was nothing more than to set the stage for the parting." Things like this were considered the tip of the iceberg of every possible means tried by the production team in order to deceive the management side, and is cause for suspicion that even during production, there was a great deal of strife between both parties.

Most of the main staff responsible for creating One left during the production of the next game (Kanon, considered the prototype of Suzu ga utau hi (鈴がうたう日, The Day the Bell Rings^?)) to join the company Visual Art's under the brand name Key. Due to the involvement of the staff, One, along with its predecessor, Moon, are often recognized as part of Key's stream. However, the game's producer, YET11 remained with Tactics. Later, Miracle☆Mikipon (みらくる☆みきぽん, Miracle☆Mikipon^?) left Key after the completion of Clannad to join another Nexton affiliated brand, Psycho.

Afterwards, One was novelized, ported to the Playstation, made into an OVA anime series twice, made into a drama CD, and re-released as a full-voice version. However, with most of the production staff actually gone, large parts of it made light of or ignored the original setting and worldview presented by the game. In particular, the all-age OVA was drawn with a completely different setting and characters from its derivative work; in the middle of the story, the important line, "Eternity does exist", was used in a way that gave it exactly the opposite meaning it originally held, and so forth. The degree of separation from the original work is remarkable. Furthermore, because of the previously mentioned reasons, absolutely none of the profits earned from the adaptations went to the staff that created the original work, so some people harbor negative opinions toward Nexton for "sponging off of their inheritance."

[edit] Release timeline

• May 5, 1998 - One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e is released
• April 1, 1999 - KID releases a Playstation version, "Kagayaku Kisetsu e". The reason it was only released as its subtitle is that at the time, Sony regulation was very strict with the restriction, "we will not allow the same title as the original work." (All-ages version)
• September 14, 2000 - "Memorial Selection: One − Kagayaku Kisetsu e" on sale from AI System.
• August 10, 2001 – All-ages OVA, One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e available from KSS studios. (All four volumes available by May, 2002)
• January 1, 2003 -"One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e − Full Voice Version is released by Nexton. Also considered the first game to utilize Alpha-ROM protection

(There was frequent trouble with compatibility problems between the CD drives and the copy protection where the PC would not recognize the CD, so currently if you send a problematic CD to Nexton, they will exchange for a new printing of the disk for free [Japan-only])

• November 21, 2003 - Cherry Lips releases the adult-oriented OVA One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e − True Stories. (All three volumes released by May, 2004)

[edit] Staff

• Head of production: YET11
• Planning: Jun Maeda
• Script: Jun Maeda, Naoki Hisaya
• Art Direction: Itaru Hinoue
• Graphics: Itaru Hinoue, Miracle☆Mikibon, Shinorii
• Music: Shinji Orito, YET11, OdiakeS

[edit] Characters

Voice actors listed are for the Playstation version / Drama CD / All-ages OVA / PC full-voice version

[edit] Main characters

Kōhei Orihara (折原 浩平, Orihara Kōhei)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / Kenji Nojima / Kishou Taniyama / (none))

The main character. (The player can change his name in the original version.) A junior in high school. He lost his parents when he was very young, and is presently living at his aunt's house. He is a member of the light music club, but doesn't participate in club activities at all. He's always teasing his childhood friend, Mizuka Nagamori, and the new transfer student, Rumi Nanase, but deep down he's nice to girls.

After the losing of his younger sister, something happens and he starts visiting the "Eternal World." As time progresses, the people around him begin to slowly forget that he exists, and he starts trying to find someone to save his existence. He begins to confuse his childhood memories of his sister and Mizuka.

Mizuka Nagamori (長森 瑞佳, Nagamori Mizuka)^?, (Seiyū – Mayumi Iizuka / Yuuko Minaguchi / Ayako Kawasumi / Ayaka Kimura)

Kōhei's classmate and childhood friend. She is constantly sighing, being made to go along with Kōhei's meaningless jokes. However, she takes unusually good care of him; for instance, going every morning to wake him up. For clubs, she helps around the orchestra club and plays the cello. She likes milk so much that she can even drink it while eating rice. Also, she's a cat-lover and has several of them at her house. She tends to add "~da yo" and "~mon" at the end of her sentences all the time; at one point of the story she gets called a "Dayomonian" (but only once). She worries about Kōhei, wondering if he could suddenly get a girlfriend. Later, there is a motif where her childhood self becomes a guide for the main character in the "Eternal World."

Rumi Nanase (七瀬 留美, Nanase Rumi)^?, (Seiyū – Chisa Yokoyama / Makiko Ohmoto / Haruhi Terada / Kusaka Chizuru)

A girl who transferred into Kōhei's school. She used to be in the kendo club but had to quit after hip complications. Her goal is to become a "true maiden." To that end, she behaves maidenly toward those around her, but she shows her true character just to Kōhei, who left a terrible first impression. Currently she doesn't belong to any club, but she's trying to join in literature activities. Also, it seems she likes her old school's uniform, as even though she has the new school's uniform, she continues to wear her old one, regardless. She's bad at putting her own hair into pigtails. She didn't say them herself, but the phrases the main character imagines her saying are famous.

Misaki Kawana (川名 みさき, Kawana Misaki)^?, (Seiyū – Satsuki Yukino / Satsuki Yukino / Machiko Toyoshima / Ayana Sumoto)

An upperclassman of Kōhei who lost her eyesight in an accident in elementary school. She meets Kōhei on the roof of school during sunset. She has no caution toward those bearing the handicap of darkness and those who have blind reason, and she has a sociable personality where she can be unreserved with anyone. School is right in front of her house, so she can get to school even by herself. She used to play around in the high school even before she lost her eyesight, so she's used to it, but she's scared of the outside and can't go there. She's a surprisingly big eater, and there's a scene where she eats several people's worth of curry at the cafeteria. She shows up at the theater club, as help for her best friend, Yukimi Miyama.

Mio Kōzuki (上月 澪, Kōzuki Mio)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / (no appearance) / Masumi Asano / (none))

An underclassman of Kōhei with abundant expressions. Because she's mute and can't speak, she uses a sketch book to carry on written conversations (and, accordingly, in the PS and full-voice PC versions, she can't/doesn't speak, so there is no voice actor). She belongs to the theater club as a junior of Yukimi Miyama. While she performs non-speaking parts, she handles her own role reliably. She's quite a dojikko, an anime stereotype for klutzy cute girls. Other than the sketchbook she uses, she has an older sketchbook which she treasures greatly.

Mayu Shiina (椎名 繭, Shiina Mayu)^?, (Seiyū – Ikue Ootani / (no appearance) / Mika Kanai / Miya Serizono)

A hot-tempered girl who refuses to go to school. She's even younger than Kōhei, in junior high. She lost her one and only friend she could trust, a ferret named "Myuu" around when she meets the main characters. As soon as something bad happens, she starts yelling the ferret's name and bawling. In order to help her grow up, Kōhei has gets her mixed in with his class. Her favorite food is a teriyaki burger. She also likes things that are long like a ferret, and takes a fancy to Rumi's hair and even strange plush snakes.

Akane Satomura (里村 茜, Satomura Akane)^?, (Seiyū – Akiko Nakagawa / Wakana Yamazaki / Sayuri Yoshida / Miru)

A quiet girl in the same class as Kōhei. She meets him on a rainy day, standing all by herself in an empty lot. Her childhood friend she fell in love with (whose name is Tsukasa) disappeared into the "Eternal World." Ever since, she continues waiting in that empty lot on rainy days, holding a pink umbrella, waiting for him to return. She enjoys cooking and making her own bentos. Also, she was born with an incurable sweet tooth. She doesn't really open her heart up to those around her, and any time Kōhei tries to do something for her, she replies, "no." The sole person she can talk normally with is Shiiko. She pulls her long hair together.

[edit] Supporting characters

Maki Hirose (広瀬 真希, Hirose Maki)^?, (Seiyū – Tomoko Kawakami / (no appearance) / (unconfirmed) / (unconfirmed))

Kōhei's classmate. Constantly meddles with the popular new transfer student, Rumi.

Yukimi Miyami (深山 雪見, Miyami Yukimi)^?, (Seiyū – Ayako Kawasumi / (no appearance) / Kyoko Hikami / Aoi Kamizuki)

Misaki's childhood friend and president of the theater club. She supports Misaki in rain or shine, but for a good reason, she's been called an "atrocious person" by Misaki. Also, she does things like create roles specifically for Mio, who can't speak.

Kaho Shiina (椎名 華穂, Shiina Kaho)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / (unconfirmed) / (unconfirmed) / (unconfirmed))

Mayu's stepmother. Also, originally this character had no name, but a fan-created continuation novel gave her this name which was officially recognized.

Shiiko Yuzuki (柚木 詩子, Yuzuki Shiiko)^?, (Seiyū –Omi Minami / Miki Nagasawa / Akiko Yajima / Miruku Uchimura)

Akane's childhood friend. She goes to a different school than Akane, but recently she's started showing up at Akane's school just because she hasn't seen her around lately. She's worried about Akane being depressed. She has a lot of nerve, doing things like openly showing up at Kōhei's school's homeroom or graduation ceremony. As an excuse, she says it's okay because there are other students wearing different schools' uniforms around (Rumi Nanase). She had the same childhood friend as Akane, but after he went to the "Eternal World," her memories of him completely vanished. There are many times when she turns against Kōhei.

Mamoru Sumii (住井 護, Sumii Mamoru)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / Daisuke Sakaguchi / (unconfirmed) / Ayumu Nakazawa)

Kōhei's classmate. He loves events and is skilled at thinking of ways to kill time during class. When you enter Mizuka's route, you have to plot against him. He spends winter break at Kōhei's house, and is pretty lazy.

Misao Orihara (折原 みさお, Orihara Misao)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / (no appearance) / Hisayo Mochizuki / Midori Hayase)

Kōhei's younger sister. She's young and dies of illness (a depiction mid-story suggests it could be cancer). She's the one who provides the trigger for Kōhei vowing to find the "Eternal World."

Yukiko Kosaka (小坂 由起子, Kosaka Yukiko)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / (no appearance) / (unconfirmed) / (unconfirmed))

Kōhei's aunt. She took him in after he lost both his parents. It seems she's busy with work, leaving early in the morning and arriving late at night, so throughout the game, she's never shown actually talking with Kōhei. (However, there is a point where she and Kōhei bump into each other.)

Shun Hikami (氷上 シュン, Hikami Shun)^?, (Seiyū – (none) / (no appearance) / Souichirou Hoshi / Arashi Tsuha)

A phantom member of the same light music club as Kōhei. He confuses Kōhei with his mysterious speech and actions.

[edit] Added characters

The following characters did not appear in the narrow scope of the original work (the PC version before the renewal).

Natsuki Shimizu (清水 なつき, Shimizu Natsuki)^?, (Seiyū – Yuka Imai / (no appearance) / (no appearance) / (no appearance))

Only appears in the Playstation version. Is saved by Kōhei when she is almost hit by a car. From that point, she says he's like an older brother, and starts calling him "onii-chan." Perhaps it's because she was added after the staff presently working at Key pulled out, but many otaku consider this a kind of black history and treat it as if it never happened.

Tsukasa Jōjima (城島 司, Joujima Tsukasa)^?, (Seiyū –(no appearance) / Hikaru Midorikawa / (no appearance) / (no appearance))

Appears only in the Movic-published novel and drama CD. The character established as Akane's childhood friend who disappeared into the "Eternal World." Akane has fallen in love with him, but he disappeared as if chasing after a former teacher who died. He was a character who wasn't created by the staff currently working at Key, so he isn't often considered part of official canon.

Saeko Nanjō (南条 紗江子, Nanjou Saeko)^?, (Seiyū –(no appearance) / Eriko Fujimaki / (no appearance) / (no appearance))

As with Tsukasa above, she appears only in the Movic-published novel and drama CD (and in the novel, by name only). She was a social studies teacher at the junior high where Akane and her friends went. She had many followers around the school; in particular, Tsukasa admired her. However, she died young, causing his ruin. Later, this became the trigger leading to Akane closing her heart. She was a character who wasn't created by the staff currently working at Key, so she isn't often considered part of official canon.

[edit] Eternal World

There are many places through the story where the "Eternal World" isn't clearly explained, and though there are several places where it is debated, the details are unknown. The sister work that inherited the "Eternal World," "One2 ~eien no yakusoku~" was developed by another Nexton brand, BaseSon. Through playing that, one can grasp to a certain extent the "Eternal World" as established in One2, but there is the consideration that the "Eternal World" in One and One2 are spurious in nature, and this might be likely.

There are those who assert that there are probable clues about the "Eternal World" as it appears in One hidden in the remarks of Shun Hikami.

The "Eternal World":

• It is the same kind of world or a similar world to the land of the dead
• Anyone can go to the "Eternal World," but returning is difficult.
• You can go to the "Eternal World" when you lose your grounding in the real world
• In the "Eternal World," it might be necessary to take a girl with you as a guide
• The "Eternal World" is not just for the main character, but is a common territory (a public space)
• In the "Eternal World," according to the pledge made with the guide, a grace period can be granted
• If you find grounding in the real world (a bond), you can be returned after approximately one year
• Nothing can prevent someone from going to the "Eternal World"
• Approximately one week before going to the "Eternal World," you start to be forgotten. Also, the moment you return you are remembered. It seems the amount of time before someone forgets you differs based on how much you think about that person.
• The guide to the "Eternal World's" avatar exists in the real world, but one's memories surrounding the pledge become hazy.

In the "Eternal World" from the novel version of One, the connection between "death" and "dreams" is much stronger. Supposedly the author, Midori Tateyama, took the depiction of the "Eternal World" you enter in the game to be "dreams" and thought the story progresses linearly. Furthermore, there is the point-of-view that the "friend of Akane who left to the Eternal World" was not the original form of Yuichi Aizawa from Kanon. (Tsukasa Jōjima was not created by current Key staff.)

[edit] External links

• Nexton's official One website (Japanese)
• Tactics' official One website (Japanese)
• AnimeNFO page for the all-ages OVA
• AnimeNFO page for the adult-only OVA

Key v • d • e
Kanon	Anime episodes | Characters | Soundtracks
Air	Anime | Characters | Movie | Soundtracks
Clannad	Nagisa Furukawa | Soundtracks
Other games	Planetarian (Albums) | Tomoyo After (Soundtracks) | Little Busters! (Album)
Pre-Key games	Dōsei | Moon. | One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e
Related	Key Sounds Label | KineticNovel | Tactics | Visual Art's