Sakura no Uta: Sakura no Mori no Ue o Mau is a Japanese adultvisual novel developed by Makura and released on October 23, 2015 for Windows. It is Makura's third game after and Root After and Another.
Gameplay
The gameplay requires almost no interaction from the player as nearly the entire duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that will appear on the screen; this text represents either dialogue between the various characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. There is a single choice that the player gets to make which determines which girl the protagonist chooses. There are six main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. In order to view the six plot lines to their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose a different choice at the single decision point in order to further the plot in an alternate direction. A true ending will be available after the completion of the stories of all the heroines. In contrast to visual novel adventure games where the text appears near the bottom of the screen leaving the rest of the window open for viewing the game's visual content, the text in Sakura no Uta appears over the entire screen in a shaded, but otherwise transparent box. However, there is an option to hide the text in order to see the background without obstruction.
Originally titled Sakura no Uta: The tear flows because of tenderness., it was announced as the debut title for Japanese developer Makura in 2004. A manga adaptation illustrated by Hakone Odawara was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazineComp Ace between March 26, 2005 and March 26, 2006; the chapters were later collected into a single tankōbon volume released on June 7, 2006. According to brand representative SCA-DI, Makura was originally conceived as a separate entity from KeroQ where they could release titles "that SCA-DI couldn't write", and they planned their first work to depict ordinary schooldays. However, the original script for Sakura no Uta became depressing in tone, so it was scrapped and they released H2O: Footprints in the Sand first, which was being developed simultaneously. Afterward, development of Sakura no Uta restarted, this time with SCA-DI writing the script. The third chapter, "PicaPica", was written by Ei Asou. A trial version called Sakura no Uta ~Haru no Yuki~ was released in September 6, 2008 as a pre-order bonus for Supreme Candy ~Oudou ni wa Oudoutaru Riyuu ga Arun Desu!~, containing the first chapter of the title. It was later rereleased as a bonus for the June 2014 issue of Tech Gian and the Official Visual Archive. However, the final product and its respective trial version were highly different from this "prototype," with changes ranging from the characters to the setting, and the graphics being redrawn. SCA-DI announced that he is working on a sequel titled Sakura no Toki: Sakura no Mori no Shita o Ayumu, and a teaser website was made public on July 28, 2017.
Reception
Sakura no Uta won the grand prize in the overall category of the Moe Game Awards 2015, the gold prize in the Users' Pick category, and the first place in the October monthly award. It also achieved first place in the overall, scenario, and music categories of the 2015 PC game rankings on Getchu.com. Additionally, characters Ai Natsume and Shizuku Natsume were voted second and nineteenth respectively, and the opening movie achieved second place.
