Photo Kano is a Japanese dating simgame developed by Dingo Inc. and Enterbrain, and was released for the PlayStation Portable on February 2, 2012. Due to Enterbrain's involvement, Photo Kano is considered the spiritual successor to KimiKiss and Amagami despite having no recurring staff except for Ichirō Sugiyama who was the producer for KimiKiss. An enhanced version titled Photo Kano Kiss was released on April 25, 2013 for the PlayStation Vita. There have been five manga adaptations, and an anime television series produced by Madhouse began airing on April 5, 2013 on TBS.
Plot
Kazuya Maeda is a second-year high school student who takes pictures of girls with his camera that he received from his dad. The game focuses on his romantic encounters with various girls at his school. The anime adaptation goes across each girl, following a common arc until episode 4, which serves as the branching off point for each route; each route is an episode long, when one is completed, the next episode reverts to a certain point in time and goes down another route.
Photo Kano was developed by Dingo and Enterbrain and was distributed by Kadokawa Games. After the production team missed their initial released date on September 29, 2011 the game release was delayed until February 2, 2012 on the PlayStation Portable. It was later released as a download version on the PlayStation Network on February 29, 2012. An enhanced version titled Photo Kano Kiss for the PlayStation Vita was released on April 25, 2013, and features improved graphics and game mechanisms, alongside a new story arc.
Manga
A manga adaptation, illustrated by N' Yuzuki and titled Photo Kano: Sweet Snap, began serialization in the January 2012 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh. The first tankōbon volume for Sweet Snap was released on July 27, 2012. The second adaptation, illustrated by Nylon and titled Photo Kano: Your Eyes Only, began serialization in the fifth issue of 2012 from Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine; its first volume was released on August 24, 2012. The third adaptation, illustrated by Taichi Amasora and titled Photo Kano: Memorial Pictures, began serialization the April 2012 issue of Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star magazine; its first volume was released on October 12, 2012. The fourth adaptation, illustrated by Kaisanbutsu and titled Photo Kano: Happy Album, began serialization in volume two of Enterbrain's Gianism magazine, sold on March 30, 2012. The first volume of Happy Album was released on March 25, 2013. The fifth adaptation, illustrated by Takao Hino and titled Photo Kano: Love Album, began serialization in Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear on June 22, 2012. The first volume of Love Album was released on March 25, 2013.
Books and publications
Enterbrain published two volumes of a light novel series titled Photo Kano: Pentaprism Memories, written by Fumihiko Shimo and illustrated by Natsume Shimano, between March and June 2012. Enterbrain published the guide book Photo Kano Official Complete Guide on March 5, 2012. Enterbrain also published two fan books: Photo Kano Love & Happy Book on January 19, 2012 and Photo Kano Visual Works on August 31, 2012.
Photo Kano Kiss on the PlayStation Vita sold 30,172 physical retail copies during the first week of release in Japan. By mid-May 2013, the number of retail sales rose to 46,167 copies. As of December 2015, both games have sold a combined total of 200,000 copies across the PSP and Vita platforms.
