CRESCENDO (GAME)

'''Crescendo''' is a bishoujo game, released in Japan by Digital Objet in 2001, and translated into English by G-Collections in 2003. The game follows a student named Ryo Sasaki through the five days leading up to his high school graduation.
The game is a visual novel. The story is presented as text, laid over graphics of the player's current location and other characters who are present. With the exception of Ryo, all the characters are voiced (in Japanese). The player progresses through the story and is occasionally presented with decisions that determine the path the game will take.
''Crescendo'' is told from a third person perspective. This allows the game to shift to other characters' viewpoints from time to time. Most of the game is played from Ryo's point of view, though.
''Crescendo'' is an eroge and contains explicit scenes.

Contents

Characters

Background

Japanese 'Full Voice Version'

Trivia

External links

Characters

''Voice actors (seiyuu) are listed in brackets where applicable.''
'Ryo Sasaki' - a student in his third year of high school. He is the main protagonist of the game.
'Kaho Nagira' (Chitose Kamata) - a cheerful girl who is Ryo's classmate. She is president of the school's literature club, and enjoys reading. She is dating Ryo's friend Tomonori.
'Kyoko Ashihara' (Tomomi Misaki) - a first-year high school student who tends to fall asleep easily. She is much taller than most girls her age, and feels very self-conscious about that fact. She and Kaho have been close friends since grade school.
'Yuka Otowa' (Izumi Yazawa) - another third-year student at Ryo's high school. She is a prostitute, selling her services to other students for fifty dollars per session. She has a bright, seemingly carefree personality. She is the hooker with a heart of gold.
'Ayame Sasaki' (Hikaru Ishiki) - Ryo's older (adoptive) sister. She has dedicated her life to Ryo since their parents were killed, sometimes to her own detriment. She and Ryo have an affectionate, if somewhat troubled, relationship.
'Kaori Shito' (Minami Hokuto) - the school nurse. Kaori attended the same nursing school as Ayame. Kaori has a cynical, no-nonsense attitude to life, which many students interpret as a cold nature. Ryo, who has visited her often during his high school years, has seen through this and has a different opinion of her.
'Tomonori Sugimura' (Tomoyuki Fujiwaki) - Ryo's best friend. The captain of the school's basketball team. He is also very popular with girls, but never had eyes for anyone until he met Kaho during a school festival.
'Miyu Shizuhara' (Rumiko Sasa) - another third-year student. She is a talented pianist, and hopes to become a concert performer one day. She has a frail constitution and is often sick. Because of this, Miyu's only friends are Kaho and Ryo.

Background

Ryo was adopted by the Sasaki family as a baby, much to the delight of his new adoptive sister, 'Ayame'. His new parents chose not to tell him that he was adopted, however, and he didn't discover this fact until his teens. Ryo's life was shortly dealt another blow when his adoptive parents were killed in a car accident.
Ayame abandoned her nursing studies in order to get a job and support Ryo through high school.
One of the first people Ryo met at high school was 'Kaho Nagira'. She begged him to join the literature club, which was in danger of being closed due to low membership. Surprising even himself, Ryo agreed to join, and he and Kaho became friends.
Ryo found it difficult to settle into life at his new school, and sometimes had run-ins with other students. It was in the aftermath of one of these fights that he met the school nurse, 'Kaori Shito', and the two struck up an unlikely friendship. Throughout his time at high school, Ryo often visited her office in order to take naps and skip class, or simply to talk with her.
In Ryo's third year of high school, 'Kyoko Ashihara' joined the literature club. She was a first-year student and a friend of Kaho's. Ryo found himself touched by Kyoko's plight - living by herself, apart from both of her parents - and did his best to be kind to her.
Ryo has a low opinion of 'Yuka Otowa'. She is looked down upon at the school because she prostitutes herself to other students. However, at the same time, Ryo has found himself defending her to other people and helping her in times of crisis, though he doesn't understand why he bothers. Although Ryo once said he hated Yuka for what she does, his hatred slowly disappears soon after.
'Tomonori Sugimura' is Ryo's best friend at high school. After he met Kaho at the school festival, he asked Ryo to introduce the two of them properly, hoping to develop a relationship with her. Ryo did so, despite his own interest in Kaho. Tomonori and Kaho started dating shortly thereafter.
'Miyu Shizuhara' is a friend of Kaho's who Ryo met when he heard her playing the piano in the music room. Miyu quickly warmed to him, and they soon became friends.

Japanese 'Full Voice Version'

The original Japanese version of ''Crescendo'' was released in 2001. It did not feature voice acting.
The game was rereleased in a 'Full Voice Version' in Japan in 2003. This version included voice acting and extended scenarios for each character.
At the same time, G-Collections was in the process of translating ''Crescendo'' into English. G-Collections decided to use the voice acting from the Japanese 'Full Voice' version, but did not include the added story elements in its translation of the game.

Trivia

★ In one of the paths, Ryo goes to see a movie called 'Look at Life', which is based on '', another D.O. game. The 'Full Voice Version' of ''Crescendo'' marked the first time that characters from ''Kana: Little Sister'' were portrayed by voice actors, since the original release of ''Kana: Little Sister'' did not include voice acting.

External links

★ G-Collections - publisher of the English-language translation

★

★ Crescendo: Synopsis and Review

★ Wolfson's Den - a bishoujo game fanfic site. Features characters from ''Crescendo'' in the story 'Fugue for a Duet'.