Hello, Good-bye is a Japanese adultvisual novel developed and published by Lump of Sugar. It was released on December 17, 2010 for Windows as Lump of Sugar's sixth title. A trial edition was released in October 2010 rated for all ages. The primary focus of the game is the appeal of the four female main characters. The story resolves around the protagonist, Kaito Toubu, a secret agent tasked with infiltrating the demilitarised territory of Morino in an alternate universe Japan. In April 2011, an official fan book was published by Enterbrain, which contained a Hello, Good-byefour-panel manga titled Lump of Comic: HGB illustrated by Fumitake Moekibara who also provided the illustrations and character designs for the game. In August 2011, a Hello, Good-byedrama CD was produced by Marine Entertainment.
Gameplay
Hello, Good-bye is romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Kaito Toubu. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. The text in the game is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Kaito is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. Hello, Good-bye follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are four main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the four heroines: May Yukishiro, Suguri Saotome, Natsume Rindo and Koharu Hiiragi. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. Some decisions can lead the game to end prematurely, which offer an alternative ending to the plot. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. Hello, Good-bye also features an achievement system. Once the player has accomplished all the tasks or completed the routes, they will receive the privilege of having a glossary of terms from the game and their definitions, background CG and music libraries, a sprite viewer and even an additional minigame starring the Lump of Sugar mascot, Azrael. There are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Kaito and a given heroine having sex.
Plot
Setting
In Japan, there are two conflicting factions, The United Provinces of Japan in the west and The Federation of Japan in the east. Despite them still opposing each other, they have made a temporary suspension of fighting known as The Morino Ceasefire Treaty. This treaty has existed for at least a century and many have decided to worship it. The story is set at the Cathedral School, a catholic school located on an island that provides education from kindergarten to university. Sister Therese teaches history there.
Hello, Good-bye is Lump of Sugar's sixth game. The scenario was written by Tetsujin. Character design and art direction was headed by Fumitake Moekibara. Hello, Good-bye music was composed by Shigenobu Ōkawa and Yūta Yamaguchi. The videos featured in the game were produced by RMG and the animation in the game was produced by Silver Link. A trial edition, rated for all ages, was released by Lump of Sugar in Japan on October 16, 2010. The full, adult game was released on December 17, 2010 for Windows as a limited edition version. The trial and limited edition are fully voiced. Promotional videos were released commercially, with four different versions featuring one of the four heroines in Hello, Good-bye: May, Suguri, Natsume or Koharu.
Related media
Printed media
published a 144-page visual fan book was on April 1, 2011. The fan book contains a terminology dictionary, story and character introductions, interviews, autographs, an illustration gallery, comments from staff, and a short four-panel manga titled Lump of Comic: HGB, which can also be read online. The manga is illustrated by Fumitake Moekibara. The Hello, Good-bye characters are designed to give the appearance of chibis in the comic strips.
Music and audio CDs
Marine Entertainment released a spin-off drama CD titled To You the Commonplace Miracle on August 12, 2011 written by Lump of Sugar. The drama CD features an episode called "School Festival". The opening theme for Hello, Good-bye is "Goodbye Crisis" by Masami Okui, with lyrics written by Trinity, and arrangement by Macaroni☆. The ending theme "Unnamed Place" is by Haruka Shimotsuki, with lyrics by Mao Sumita. The opening and ending themes were released on two separate CDs, also containing the instrumental versions of the two songs. Hello, Good-bye contains two insert songs". The first is "Namonaki Monogatari" by Kicco, with lyrics by Akko and composition by Kan Sayuri. The second is "Watashi wa Anata o Shinjiteiru" by Tohko, with lyrics by YoshiShina. A two-disc original soundtrack was also produced.
Merchandise
Merchandise has been produced for Hello, Good-bye, including figurines produced by Volks Inc., special stick posters, rough line art books, desktop accessories, Hello, Good-bye school attire cosplay, bed sheets, pillow cases, and booklets regarding the game. There are also collectible Lump of Sugar trading cards that depict the characters from their existing visual novels, including Hello, Good-bye.
Reception
Hello, Good-bye was the sixth best selling visual novel in 2010 on Getchu, and was the number one best selling visual novel of December 2010 sold on Getchu. In January 2011, the ranking lowered to 20th place. Hello, Good-bye was ranked first as the most pre-ordered visual novel game in Japan in November 2010. Getchu.com awarded Hello, Good-bye first place for the visual novel with the best quality movie-making in 2010. Moe Game Award gave Hello, Good-bye silver for the best visual novel song in 2011, which was "Goodbye Crisis" sung by Masami Okui, losing only to Grisaia no Kajitsu which achieved gold. On Hello, Good-bye official website, a popularity poll was held for the characters. May Yukishiro came in fourth place with 2,092 votes, Natsume Rindo came in third place with 2,179 votes, Suguri Saotome came in second place with 2,306 votes, and Koharu Hiiragi came first place with 2,317 votes, and Koharu then received a special wallpaper as a prize.
