A Year of Springs is bunch of visual novels in the soft story telling that I have come to know npckc for. It doesn't deal too much in drama, and lets it's cast be supportive and open with each other in a way that can sometimes feel unrealistic to my generation. That being said, I do feel these games have a place properly in the future as more people want to look into their own sexuality and find more positive works of discovering yourself.

The game also has a neat little unlock feature for leading into the next game, and a gallery mode to see all the cute pictures you acquire through out your playthroughs. As well, there is an epilogue that shows the cast of characters a little after everything is resolved, and while I hope we get more of them, it's nice to see them being sweet to each other one last time. If you're looking for a comfy game for your gays, this trilogy hits the spot.

this would probably function better as an educational tool than a standard game tbh, esp since it’s a visual novel that requires very little player input. the art is absolutely adorable and so are the characters themselves, but the writing is very heavy handed and thus predictable. i’m really happy to see the representation and a frank discussion on LGBT rights in japan, but if you’re a part of the community or are already educated on trans issues the plot might just be a bit too obvious to fully immerse yourself in. they’re just so dang cute and sweet though! would still recommend picking up for the charm

'A Year of Springs' es un compendio de tres viñetas desarrolladas por el indie japonés npckc, con un claro enfoque hacia la concienciación del colectivo transgénero y la inclusión social. Aunque cada historia tiene a una protagonista diferente, todas pivotan entorno a la figura de Haru, una mujer trans a la que le cuesta horrores expresarse abiertamente sobre su proceso y las dificultades a las que se expone en su día a día. La mayor parte del tiempo piensa que es un incordio para la gente y prefiere evitar el contacto social, para que ninguna situación escale entorno a su identidad y sentirse avergonzada. Le da miedo comprometerse a salir con sus amigas, a mostrar sus sentimientos por si provoca una reacción contraria a la que imagina, e incluso le cuesta esbozar una sonrisa cuando encuentra el apoyo y la generosidad de quienes le conocen. No cree que la merezca. Pero está viviendo parte de "un proceso" que no le atañe a ella únicamente, ya que las personas a su alrededor también irán descubriendo sensibilidades y herramientas sociales para sincerarse y abrirse como personas. Todo ello conservando el buen rollo, la cordialidad y la estética cuca que ha acuñado npckc como seño distintivo en sus propuestas.

En 'one night, hot springs', Haru acompañará a sus compañeras a los baños termales, y según las decisiones que tomemos, aprovechará su estancia según sea capaz de exponer su identidad a la gente; anteponiendose a sus inseguridades. En 'last day of springs', su amiga Erika pasará varios días buscando el regalo de cumpleaños ideal para Haru, descubriendo a su paso las barreras que se encuentra el público trans para acceder a ciertos servicios, y el limbo en el que dicen ubicarse al ser forzados a expresar lo que no son para formar parte de la sociedad. Y finalmente, en 'spring leaves no flowers' llevaremos a Manami, tercera en discordia, que nota cierta conexión entre Haru y Erika que le llevará a explorar una faceta suya que había dado por natural y no lo es tanto. Las 3 obras poseen múltiples finales que no son "malos", pero sí agridulces, denotando que no hemos dado respuestas honestas a las preocupaciones que surgen a nuestra presencia; pero al final lo mejor es explorar todas las posibilidades para así hallar la dulzura detrás de la persona. Ayuda también que, obtener todos los finales de cada juego puede llevar menos de una hora perfectamente.

En los tiempos que corren, la comunidad trans (y en general todo LGTBI+) se está viendo amenazada por grupos ultras encebados por la libertad al odio y en ridiculizar el uso de lenguaje no binario (OK bro), pero también por organismos gubernamentales que no quieren admitir la existencia de un problema que ha existido de siempre, y que ahora sólo le hemos dado un nombre en clave. España precisamente ha dado pasos de gigante en la materia para expandir sus derechos y humanizar a aquellos señalados como engendros, pero la amenaza de regresión sigue ahí presente. El trabajo de npckc es necesario para aportar su granito de arena a la representación no binaria, y lo hace sin la intención de ser pretencioso, arrogante en su conocimiento, o educativo en el más estricto sentido de la materia. Sino aportando el contexto necesario para escenificar el problema y pensar cuál sería la decisión más noble y acogedora posible que podríamos tomar. Porque todo esto trasciende la política, religión o cuenta corriente de todo contribuyente: es parte de hacer nuestra vida en sociedad más fácil, más accesible y más bondadosa. Es derecho humano.

like, personally, Haru is too waifish and ""soft"" for me to really identify with her, (and I do think it veers a little close to Online Transfem Stereotyping) but this is still easily the best trans representation I've seen in a video game ever I'm pretty sure.
short and sweet, really really lovely. it's just ultimately a little too minimal on its actual gameplay, being more of a semi interactive webcomic than true visual novel; or at least the fairly brief length of these chapters sort of shapes that perception. I'd love to rate this higher though! Erika's chapter really made me almost cry. Highly recommend, I just can't imagine much reason to come back to this and replay it necessarily

I already reviewd the individual games here, here, and here so I'll just use this to say that the epilogue is very nice and hit unexpectedly hard entirely because I moved out of my apartment of 7 years literally this wednesday.

Also it took me an emberrasing amount of time to figure out that all these games having spring in their names is a pun on Haru's name.

finishing the epilogue and then thinking about one of the bad ends for the first game... anyway this is fantastic for what it is! it only took me two hours to get all the endings but i loved all the characters so much, i would play ten more of these games just exploring their lives. i've never really seen trans media that portrays the vague disconnect of being around friends who are cis girls... our experiences are so similar yet so different and that subtly sits in the back of your mind always. masterful!

Incredibly cute and sweet, but also unimaginably tender and surprisingly profound. The lowkey drama found throughout A Year of Springs is something that’s not quite easy to see. Like, there are a lot of cozy games, games that in some ways have similar vibes to this one, but which couldn’t be more different in terms of the effect that cozyness has on the player. When I play something like Animal Crossing I don’t feel at all like when I played this. One feels like a neverending winter with unlimited hot chocolate while the other feels like holding hands with your favorite person on a rainy day, each doing different things but nevertheless feeling like that company is the better part of the experience. I don’t know.

I love how every chapter plays with the dialogue mechanics, from the multiple ways you can affect the story in the first one, in contrast to how the state of mind of the main character in the third one basically locks you from diverging from the one path, to the second one, which has one BIG choice masquerading as multiple little ones. But that works in service to the writing and the very human and serene way the relationships between these three women changes over the spring. I was left wanting more, but in a good way. Have you eve watch a movie and felt that you just wanted like a sitcom made out of it? Like, fine, the story is done, but you just couldn’t let the characters go? I wanna know not necessarily what happens next, but what these people do with their lives. I don’t care if it’s boring, I just wanna know. In a matter of an hour the developer made me care, made relate, made cry and made miss three people that don’t exist but I have met.

Genuinely one of the best games I’ve ever played.

This game has stuck with me since first playing it. Haru’s struggles are very much a reflection of my own. Being overwhelmed of fighting for your own rights, cancelling events because of anxiety, not going out with your friends for a fun time just because you’re a little different, finding yourself so broken, so unlovable that you think no one will ever find you attractive, becoming the women you want to be but having people and governments treat you inhumanely, they’re all struggles I’ve dealt with, some even still to this day. It’s all so real it hurts, so real that I cried multiple times.

But what makes me cry the most is Haru’s friends. Their dedication towards her feeling included, listening to her problems and making their own solutions to make her feel loved and appreciated. How they notice how awfully difficult the world can be and still try their absolute best to make her happy is the most heartwarming thing.

All the characters are wonderful and they all deserve multiple hugs from me. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈