The best of the bunch of the "A Year of Springs trilogy"! It captures the exact moment that someone realizes they are not exactly how society dictates them to be, and does it in such a natural way that it almost feels like it actually happened.
As usual, the game is absolutely a soft vibe with the returning cast of Manami, Haru, and Erika all coming together and just interacting with each other. The game follows a bit after the last game, Last Day of Spring, and sorta fills the gap through out it's own story. Eventually, Erika makes an off handed remark to Manami, and Manami starts questioning her sexuality. Through this process Manami can ask for help from her friends, and eventually is outright told to look into it through the internet. Rightly, this whole ordeal is a self discovery story, and what it can mean to their current relationship and friendships. If not for the outright positivity and bright cast of characters I can absolutely seeing this going south fast, but the way they all help support each other is delightful and tugs at your heartstrings.
Spring Leaves No Flowers just feels like a honest look into what finding out about your own sexuality is, and with the way each game has sorta of made way for each characters understanding and established relationship in this current game makes this a wonderful ending to the series that works well.
As usual, the game is absolutely a soft vibe with the returning cast of Manami, Haru, and Erika all coming together and just interacting with each other. The game follows a bit after the last game, Last Day of Spring, and sorta fills the gap through out it's own story. Eventually, Erika makes an off handed remark to Manami, and Manami starts questioning her sexuality. Through this process Manami can ask for help from her friends, and eventually is outright told to look into it through the internet. Rightly, this whole ordeal is a self discovery story, and what it can mean to their current relationship and friendships. If not for the outright positivity and bright cast of characters I can absolutely seeing this going south fast, but the way they all help support each other is delightful and tugs at your heartstrings.
Spring Leaves No Flowers just feels like a honest look into what finding out about your own sexuality is, and with the way each game has sorta of made way for each characters understanding and established relationship in this current game makes this a wonderful ending to the series that works well.
Spring Leaves No Flowers me deixou muito feliz. Enquanto o 2° jogo da trilogia era mais do mesmo, esse 3° muda muito. Dessa vez, a protagonista é a Manami e a história é sobre as suas dificuldades em descobrir as suas preferências. A troca de protagonista aqui é bem melhor utilizada do que no anterior e abre perspectivas muito bem vindas. Nos outros 2, a Manami era aquela amiga solidária mas meio ingênua, e vendo o seu ponto de vista, ela é tão cheia de ansiedade quanto as outras 2 e isso a deixa mais humana. A forma que retrataram ela se descobrindo foi o que me deixou feliz nesse jogo. Eu sou arromântico e assexual (vulgo: aroace), e quando vi que a história se tratava sobre essas identidades em específico fiquei animado, ainda mais porque aroaces tendem a ser pouco discutidos. As dificuldades de se assumir como tal e se abrir foram mostradas com muita delicadeza e sinceridade, e me identifiquei com a Manami nessa parte. Uma adição muito boa, foram as escolhas riscadas, pois reforçam os temas da história de uma forma interessante, sendo essas as opções que Manami mais tem medo de falar. Spring Leaves No Flowers pode não ter mudado a minha vida, mas me deixou contente com o que me mostrou e me faz querer mais histórias sobre se assumir como essa daqui.
Prós: Mostra um processo de se assumir com muito respeito; Manami ficou bem desenvolvida; Escolhas riscadas; Leitura não tão cansativa; Estilo de arte bem fofo.
Contras: Alguns errinhos de tradução no PT-BR.
Prós: Mostra um processo de se assumir com muito respeito; Manami ficou bem desenvolvida; Escolhas riscadas; Leitura não tão cansativa; Estilo de arte bem fofo.
Contras: Alguns errinhos de tradução no PT-BR.
June 2015. I am 14 years old (that’s right. I’m young!) and reading an article about asexuality. This is the first time I hear about the concept, and I keep thinking about it. A few weeks later I conclude that I am demisexual.
Early 2016. I am 15 years old. I am on my train home, and I let my mind wander. I think about how I am crushing on multiple people. Wasn’t there a word for that? Polyamorous? Maybe I’m that.
Slightly later 2016. Two of my crushes start dating. Awkward. One of them is also polyamorous but the other isn’t so there’s not much to do about this.
April 2nd, 2016. I kiss a boy and I like it. For the rest of the day, I keep thinking about that and conclude that I am pansexual.
July 2016. A friend (and crush) is celebrating her birthday. It is the first time in a while that I spend a significant amount of time with a friend who had until very recently spent half a year in New Zealand. I start crushing on her.
We start dating on October 24th. She is my first girlfriend. She is also asexual so that part of my identity isn’t an issue – until it is a few months later because I feel close enough to her to develop sexual attraction. We make it work though, for a while at least.
She breaks up with me after we’ve been dating for a bit more than a year. I’m not really saddened by this; we continue to be friends and something about this relationship kind of felt off to me anyway.
Early 2018. I am 17 years old. While scrolling through Tumblr I see a post saying “I was such a good male feminist ally that I became a girl… step up fellas”
For some reason I feel the need to reblog it with the addition of “Nah, I’ll remain male. I think. Not 100% sure.” OP reblogs this addition, jokingly calling me a coward.
This sends me down a spiral of self-examination and the next day I decide to try out being a girl. I knew my friends would be progressive regarding this stuff, one of my friends is a trans man and they’re all super nice to him. And indeed, they go along with it. But just two days later I call the whole thing off. It just doesn’t feel quite right.
That evening, I go to a concert and security mistakes me for a girl (I have really long hair) and I feel euphoric about that.
August 2018. I am 18 years old. After thinking about my gender for months without really coming to any conclusion I decide to just come out as unspecified nonbinary (any pronouns) for now.
At some point in 2018 I realize that I am no longer demisexual. Or maybe I never was demisexual. It’s not really that important really.
July 2019. I’m finally done with school and have 3 months before university begins. I spend a month in Japan and spend a lot of time just thinking about stuff while walking around in parks. I come up with the basic idea for a ttrpg system (it ended up not being very fun to play), I start drawing (I never pursued it much further once I was out of Japan again) and most importantly, I finally figure out my gender. It’s a bit tricky to put into words but the most precise way to say it while still being concise is “bigender woman”.
August 2019. I am 19 years old. I meet up with two friends from an online community. They only ever knew me as trans, and they are the first people I interact with in a non-digital space to treat me like a woman. It feels amazing.
Of course, I end up crushing on both which is awkward because they’re monogamous and dating each other.
November 2019. After spending another weekend with the friends I met in August I feel incredibly lonely and install a dating app. I get a few matches, but the conversations never really go anywhere. I feel like nobody on this app knows what they want out of a relationship, myself included.
December 2019. After spending yet another weekend with the aforementioned friends I decide to uninstall the dating app. It’s difficult to explain but I feel like there are some fundamental differences between what I want out of a relationship, what these two have in their relationship, and what I could get out of a relationship from a dating app.
June 9th, 2020. I start dating my current girlfriend. We’re very happy together, despite being long distance. I finally feel like I have everything related to gender and sexuality figured out.
2021. I am 20 years old. I start questioning what exactly the difference between a romantic relationship and a friendship is to me. On July 15th, I conclude that I am aromantic.
There is no real difference between what I feel and felt for the people I’ve been in relationships with and what I feel for close friends. This also explains why I kept crushing on basically all my friends.
I didn’t think about it in the moment but in retrospect I’m very glad that my girlfriend didn’t react badly to this at all. Our relationship can still be special because of the way xie feels about me.
September 7th, 2022. I am 22 years old. I play one night, hot springs. It’s a great game that I can relate to a lot. I plan on playing the sequels eventually, though I’m unsure if they’ll be as relatable.
October 15th, 2022. I play last day of spring and like this one a lot as well.
I then go on to play spring leaves no flowers (wow, 900+ words before the game this review is about is mentioned, this has to be some kind of record). I am blown away.
The mechanic of having crossed out options confuses me at first, but I end up loving it very quickly. Having things you want to say but you don’t feel like you can say is something I assume most people can relate to and the fact that your friends encouraging you can unlock these options is great.
Asexuality and especially aromanticism are things very rarely discussed in media. Even the most progressive of blue-hairs-and-pronouns-media is usually just going to include a character who is ace or aroace and then they might explain that to others but it’s not really about what it feels like to them. This game is a welcome exception, exploring what it’s like to discover you’re aroace while in a romantic relationship.
And yes, I wish there was any representation for people who are are but not ace but I won’t hold that against individual pieces of media
As I am writing this review, I keep thinking “This is stupid, this is way too long, this is way too personal, no one will care, you shouldn’t put stuff this personal out for strangers on the internet, just do a funny two or three sentence review like with the others” but I’m going to publish this anyway. Maybe someone will like it. Maybe someone will play this amazing trilogy because of this. Maybe someone will even learn something about themselves thanks to this.
Discovering a new aspect of your identity can be scary. Especially if you’re currently in a relationship. But with the help of our friends both me and Manami managed to do it.
You can do it too.
Early 2016. I am 15 years old. I am on my train home, and I let my mind wander. I think about how I am crushing on multiple people. Wasn’t there a word for that? Polyamorous? Maybe I’m that.
Slightly later 2016. Two of my crushes start dating. Awkward. One of them is also polyamorous but the other isn’t so there’s not much to do about this.
April 2nd, 2016. I kiss a boy and I like it. For the rest of the day, I keep thinking about that and conclude that I am pansexual.
July 2016. A friend (and crush) is celebrating her birthday. It is the first time in a while that I spend a significant amount of time with a friend who had until very recently spent half a year in New Zealand. I start crushing on her.
We start dating on October 24th. She is my first girlfriend. She is also asexual so that part of my identity isn’t an issue – until it is a few months later because I feel close enough to her to develop sexual attraction. We make it work though, for a while at least.
She breaks up with me after we’ve been dating for a bit more than a year. I’m not really saddened by this; we continue to be friends and something about this relationship kind of felt off to me anyway.
Early 2018. I am 17 years old. While scrolling through Tumblr I see a post saying “I was such a good male feminist ally that I became a girl… step up fellas”
For some reason I feel the need to reblog it with the addition of “Nah, I’ll remain male. I think. Not 100% sure.” OP reblogs this addition, jokingly calling me a coward.
This sends me down a spiral of self-examination and the next day I decide to try out being a girl. I knew my friends would be progressive regarding this stuff, one of my friends is a trans man and they’re all super nice to him. And indeed, they go along with it. But just two days later I call the whole thing off. It just doesn’t feel quite right.
That evening, I go to a concert and security mistakes me for a girl (I have really long hair) and I feel euphoric about that.
August 2018. I am 18 years old. After thinking about my gender for months without really coming to any conclusion I decide to just come out as unspecified nonbinary (any pronouns) for now.
At some point in 2018 I realize that I am no longer demisexual. Or maybe I never was demisexual. It’s not really that important really.
July 2019. I’m finally done with school and have 3 months before university begins. I spend a month in Japan and spend a lot of time just thinking about stuff while walking around in parks. I come up with the basic idea for a ttrpg system (it ended up not being very fun to play), I start drawing (I never pursued it much further once I was out of Japan again) and most importantly, I finally figure out my gender. It’s a bit tricky to put into words but the most precise way to say it while still being concise is “bigender woman”.
August 2019. I am 19 years old. I meet up with two friends from an online community. They only ever knew me as trans, and they are the first people I interact with in a non-digital space to treat me like a woman. It feels amazing.
Of course, I end up crushing on both which is awkward because they’re monogamous and dating each other.
November 2019. After spending another weekend with the friends I met in August I feel incredibly lonely and install a dating app. I get a few matches, but the conversations never really go anywhere. I feel like nobody on this app knows what they want out of a relationship, myself included.
December 2019. After spending yet another weekend with the aforementioned friends I decide to uninstall the dating app. It’s difficult to explain but I feel like there are some fundamental differences between what I want out of a relationship, what these two have in their relationship, and what I could get out of a relationship from a dating app.
June 9th, 2020. I start dating my current girlfriend. We’re very happy together, despite being long distance. I finally feel like I have everything related to gender and sexuality figured out.
2021. I am 20 years old. I start questioning what exactly the difference between a romantic relationship and a friendship is to me. On July 15th, I conclude that I am aromantic.
There is no real difference between what I feel and felt for the people I’ve been in relationships with and what I feel for close friends. This also explains why I kept crushing on basically all my friends.
I didn’t think about it in the moment but in retrospect I’m very glad that my girlfriend didn’t react badly to this at all. Our relationship can still be special because of the way xie feels about me.
September 7th, 2022. I am 22 years old. I play one night, hot springs. It’s a great game that I can relate to a lot. I plan on playing the sequels eventually, though I’m unsure if they’ll be as relatable.
October 15th, 2022. I play last day of spring and like this one a lot as well.
I then go on to play spring leaves no flowers (wow, 900+ words before the game this review is about is mentioned, this has to be some kind of record). I am blown away.
The mechanic of having crossed out options confuses me at first, but I end up loving it very quickly. Having things you want to say but you don’t feel like you can say is something I assume most people can relate to and the fact that your friends encouraging you can unlock these options is great.
Asexuality and especially aromanticism are things very rarely discussed in media. Even the most progressive of blue-hairs-and-pronouns-media is usually just going to include a character who is ace or aroace and then they might explain that to others but it’s not really about what it feels like to them. This game is a welcome exception, exploring what it’s like to discover you’re aroace while in a romantic relationship.
As I am writing this review, I keep thinking “This is stupid, this is way too long, this is way too personal, no one will care, you shouldn’t put stuff this personal out for strangers on the internet, just do a funny two or three sentence review like with the others” but I’m going to publish this anyway. Maybe someone will like it. Maybe someone will play this amazing trilogy because of this. Maybe someone will even learn something about themselves thanks to this.
Discovering a new aspect of your identity can be scary. Especially if you’re currently in a relationship. But with the help of our friends both me and Manami managed to do it.
You can do it too.
Esta es la mejor de la trilogia de A year of spring, y con la que más me he sentido identificada.
Habla sobre el autodescubrimiento y las dudas que se generan sobre las identidades de cada uno, sobre como aunque vivamos años clasificandonos de la misma manera, al final un pequeño detonante te puede llevar a cuestionar todo.
Yo soy Demisexual, es decir, estoy dentro del espectro de la asexualidad y no es hace mucho tiempo que lo se, si no que fue todo un proceso de entendimiento sobre como me sentía al rededor de lo sexual.
Años con dudas y preguntas incomodas de terceros que inundaron mi cabeza sin saber si realmente era lo "normal" lo que me pasaba o como entendía las cosas.
Este juego refleja esa misma experiencia, en como Manami es incapaz de entenderse y años de pequeñas dudas explotan en algún punto, pero que gracias al apoyo de sus seres queridos empieza su pequeño camino de auto-descubrimiento sobre su identidad sexual.
Puede que ella al final pueda no ser aromantica o puede que no sea totalmente asexual, pero es un proceso que ella empieza y donde tiene el apoyo que necesita una persona en este momento.
Una experiencia queer que de verdad se ve poco y adore ver.
Es necesario que se visibilicen más este tipo de cosas como es la de una persona ace.
Habla sobre el autodescubrimiento y las dudas que se generan sobre las identidades de cada uno, sobre como aunque vivamos años clasificandonos de la misma manera, al final un pequeño detonante te puede llevar a cuestionar todo.
Yo soy Demisexual, es decir, estoy dentro del espectro de la asexualidad y no es hace mucho tiempo que lo se, si no que fue todo un proceso de entendimiento sobre como me sentía al rededor de lo sexual.
Años con dudas y preguntas incomodas de terceros que inundaron mi cabeza sin saber si realmente era lo "normal" lo que me pasaba o como entendía las cosas.
Este juego refleja esa misma experiencia, en como Manami es incapaz de entenderse y años de pequeñas dudas explotan en algún punto, pero que gracias al apoyo de sus seres queridos empieza su pequeño camino de auto-descubrimiento sobre su identidad sexual.
Puede que ella al final pueda no ser aromantica o puede que no sea totalmente asexual, pero es un proceso que ella empieza y donde tiene el apoyo que necesita una persona en este momento.
Una experiencia queer que de verdad se ve poco y adore ver.
Es necesario que se visibilicen más este tipo de cosas como es la de una persona ace.
This review contains spoilers
No primeiro game dessa mini-trilogia, a protagonista Haru tem que lidar com o fato de que a sociedade não é lá muito gentil ou tolerante com mulheres trans. Lidar com isso é desgastante, o que é refletido no game com suas escolhas ficando cada vez mais limitadas a medida que você se depara com situações confrontacionais. Essas limitações são tanto internas quanto externas: é tanto a sociedade dizendo para Haru "você não pode fazer isso" quanto ela mesma, devido a dolorosas experiências de vida, pensando "eu não posso fazer isso".
Enquanto isso, a protagonista do segundo game Erika, não tem limitações internas. Sua personalidade extrovertida lhe permite sempre escolher fazer ou falar o que quer ou pensa. Mas isso não quer dizer que todas as portas estão abertas para ela, com várias coisas estando além de sua capacidade de mudar - algo que lhe fica perfeitamente claro ao tentar achar algum spa que aceite atender sua amiga trans.
Em contrapartida, a protagonista de "spring leaves no flowers", Manami, aquela que exteriormente parece melhor se encaixar nos padrões sociais cis-heteronormativos, é a que tem mais limitações internas. Enquanto nos dois primeiros games ela parece ser um tanto ingênua, o terceiro game permite-nos ver seu monólogo interno e perceber que ela está perfeitamente ciente das dificuldades de suas amigas. Entretanto, seu misto de ansiedade e vontade de evitar conflitos a impede de falar o que realmente pensa. As opções de diálogo até aparecem, mas estão sempre riscadas e inacessíveis, lhe restando sempre tentar desconversar ou falar alguma coisa genérica no lugar. Essa incapacidade de lidar com confrontos também se aplica a seus conflitos internos - especificamente, como ela lida com sua (a)sexualidade. Não é que Manami não saiba que é diferente; mas para que confrontar essa diferença se até o momento ela conseguiu se "encaixar" na sociedade? É melhor simplesmente fingir que ela não existe - ou assim ela pensa inicialmente.
Em poucos minutos, cada uma das três novelas visuais utiliza o elemento mais básico do gênero, o fato do jogador poder escolher respostas e ações em pontos predeterminados, para explorar tanto as dificuldades que a sociedade impõe sobre pessoas que não se encaixam no padrão cis-heteronormativo quanto pontos cruciais da personalidade de cada personagem representada. Agora que joguei a trilogia completa, fico com a sensação de que os três curtos games não só se complementam como se reforçam mutuamente - narrativa *e* mecanicamente.
Enquanto isso, a protagonista do segundo game Erika, não tem limitações internas. Sua personalidade extrovertida lhe permite sempre escolher fazer ou falar o que quer ou pensa. Mas isso não quer dizer que todas as portas estão abertas para ela, com várias coisas estando além de sua capacidade de mudar - algo que lhe fica perfeitamente claro ao tentar achar algum spa que aceite atender sua amiga trans.
Em contrapartida, a protagonista de "spring leaves no flowers", Manami, aquela que exteriormente parece melhor se encaixar nos padrões sociais cis-heteronormativos, é a que tem mais limitações internas. Enquanto nos dois primeiros games ela parece ser um tanto ingênua, o terceiro game permite-nos ver seu monólogo interno e perceber que ela está perfeitamente ciente das dificuldades de suas amigas. Entretanto, seu misto de ansiedade e vontade de evitar conflitos a impede de falar o que realmente pensa. As opções de diálogo até aparecem, mas estão sempre riscadas e inacessíveis, lhe restando sempre tentar desconversar ou falar alguma coisa genérica no lugar. Essa incapacidade de lidar com confrontos também se aplica a seus conflitos internos - especificamente, como ela lida com sua (a)sexualidade. Não é que Manami não saiba que é diferente; mas para que confrontar essa diferença se até o momento ela conseguiu se "encaixar" na sociedade? É melhor simplesmente fingir que ela não existe - ou assim ela pensa inicialmente.
Em poucos minutos, cada uma das três novelas visuais utiliza o elemento mais básico do gênero, o fato do jogador poder escolher respostas e ações em pontos predeterminados, para explorar tanto as dificuldades que a sociedade impõe sobre pessoas que não se encaixam no padrão cis-heteronormativo quanto pontos cruciais da personalidade de cada personagem representada. Agora que joguei a trilogia completa, fico com a sensação de que os três curtos games não só se complementam como se reforçam mutuamente - narrativa *e* mecanicamente.
the trilogy seems to want to be a little helpful guide to lgbt issues while avoiding being outright didactic, but for the first time in the three games the dodging here just makes all the "educational" stuff ten times worse. "opening up" always leads to the best outcome, all your friends are understanding and the game basically hand holds you to acceptance, which ends up being another system. well intentioned tho, and good dialogues without forced indieness.
Hope the dog movie they watched was either Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3 or Air Bud: Golden Receiver.
cute ending
i think this made me realize/come to terms with some things about myself
A Year of Springs (Switch)
'let's talk again tomorrow', 'let's watch a movie', 'let's get pancakes', 'let's think about this later' and 'let's be honest' completed
'let's talk again tomorrow', 'let's watch a movie', 'let's get pancakes', 'let's think about this later' and 'let's be honest' completed
Manami is my everything
Being asexual myself, this was the game in the A Year of Springs trilogy that I had the most personal connection with, and my actual impetus for seeking out these games in the first place. Much like in One Night, Hot Springs anxiety is just as much of a focus as queerness, but this entry differentiates itself with the addition of choices that are crossed out, representing options that are so intimidating that Manami doesn’t want to consider them. The presence of these options make getting the good ending much harder than previous entries, because the only way through is to pick them consistently. This effectively illustrates how, for queer people, realizing who we are is a process that can only be achieved by asking the hard questions, and as such, I am really grateful for these games for talking about these issues in such a kind, considered manner.
i'm essentially repeating myself with my descriptions of this series but i don't see a lot of media that demonstrates such a willingness to engage honestly with any aspect of the queer experience as these games do, and this time it's a coming out narrative. where a commonly held wisdom and the most common way to portray a coming out is very certain, "i'm coming out of the closet, this is who i am," spring leaves no flowers gently, sweetly tells us that it might really be a surprise, a process, and a scary, confusing, unwelcome one at that.
i'm not aromantic or asexual, but I see a lot of my own multiple comings out in Minami's budding realizations, years later than maybe you'd expect them to come, in her insistence on explaining away or justifying the inconsistencies in her reality, in her anxious inability to just talk to her friends about it they'll be cool you know they will (another way that npckc has cleverly conveyed the anxiety of communication via really simple dialogue mechanics).
but as always these heavy topics are handled with such warmth and grace, even in tough moments and non-ideal endings. and something i haven't mentioned but think is key to how much i dig these is that i just really like these characters as people. i like hanging out with them and i'm excited to get another peek into what they've been up to and what's going on with them.
it's a lovely universe npckc has built here and i'm glad to have spent the time with them
i'm not aromantic or asexual, but I see a lot of my own multiple comings out in Minami's budding realizations, years later than maybe you'd expect them to come, in her insistence on explaining away or justifying the inconsistencies in her reality, in her anxious inability to just talk to her friends about it they'll be cool you know they will (another way that npckc has cleverly conveyed the anxiety of communication via really simple dialogue mechanics).
but as always these heavy topics are handled with such warmth and grace, even in tough moments and non-ideal endings. and something i haven't mentioned but think is key to how much i dig these is that i just really like these characters as people. i like hanging out with them and i'm excited to get another peek into what they've been up to and what's going on with them.
it's a lovely universe npckc has built here and i'm glad to have spent the time with them