Mashiroiro Symphony (Series)

Mashiroiro Symphony: Love is pure white (ましろ色シンフォニー -Love is pure white-) is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Palette, and it was released in Japan on October 30, 2009 for Microsoft Windows PCs. Mashiroiro Symphony is Palette's ninth title. The gameplay in Mashiroiro Symphony follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and differs upon the player's decisions, and its storyline focuses on the appeal of the four female main characters.

Futago Minazuki has illustrated three manga adaptations serialized in 's  magazine. Four drama CD adaptations titled Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama CD Series were released by in 2010. A 12-episode anime adaptation produced by aired in Japan between October and December 2011.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Mashiroiro Symphony requires little interaction from the player, as most of the duration of the game is only spent on reading the text that appears on the lower portion of the screen, representing either dialogue between characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point", where he or she is given the chance to choose from multiple options. The time between these points varies and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. Text progression pauses at these points and depending on the choices that the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are four main plot lines in the original release that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story.

This is increased to six plot lines in the PlayStation Portable version with the extended scenario for two female characters. To view all of the plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different decisions to progress the plot in an alternate direction.

Plot
The story of Mashiroiro Symphony primarily takes place in the fictional town of Kagamidai (各務台), which consists of two distinct districts dubbed the "Old District" (旧市街), which primarily contains traditional housings resided by upper class families, and the "New District" (新市街), which is generally inhabited by working class families. The town also houses two private academic institutions undergoing a merger: the Yuihime Girls' Private Academy (私立結姫女子学園), a notorious upper class girls' academy nicknamed Yuijo (結女), and the Kagamidai Private Academy (私立各務台学園), a coeducation school which Shingo, the protagonist whose role the player assumes, attends. As part of the merger, students from both schools are selected to participate in a test class at the Yuihime Girls' Academy campus, an act which is initially opposed by the female student body.

Main Characters
Shingo Uryū (瓜生 新吾) is the main protagonist and is a second-year student of Kagamidai Academy. He is very hardworking and kind. He was selected as a test student, and transferred to Yuihime Girls' Academy to participate in 2-T, the second-year test class. He was elected the class representative. He quickly makes friends with several girls at Yuihime Girls' Academy, though Airi does not want to get along with him or any of the other boys. He was sickly and asthmatic in his childhood, but he is in good health now. His parents are busy with their work and are seldom at home.

Airi Sena (瀬名 愛理) is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy and the principal's daughter. She always gets the best grade among all second-year students. At first, she was against the plan for merge of two schools, and rejected male students from Kagamidai Academy, but she began getting along with them several weeks later. She was elected the class representative along with Shingo. She was born and brought up in an upper class family in the Old District, but she has lived by herself in a low-priced apartment in the New District since she attended Yuihime Girls' Academy. She lives in a simple life and often goes shopping to a local supermarket in the New District named Kume Mart to buy reasonable-priced food and daily necessities.

Sakuno Uryū (瓜生 桜乃) is Shingo's younger stepsister and first-year student of Kagamidai Academy; her father remarried Shingo's mother about ten years ago. She has a quiet personality and is good at cooking, but has a poor sense of direction and often gets lost. She was selected as a test student with her brother, and transferred to Yuihime Girls' Academy to participate in 1-T, the first-year test class. She happened to meet Airi at night on September 30, the day before the transferring on October 1. She became close friends with Airi at that time. She often goes shopping to Kume Mart, too. She is youngest but tallest among the main female characters.

Angelina Nanatsu Sewell (アンジェリーナ・菜夏・シーウェル), nicknamed Ange (アンジェ), is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy. Unlike other female students, she does not wear school uniform, always wears a maid costume. She is a "stray maid" (野良メイド) and wants to come across her master in the future. She is in Shingo's class and tries to help in the assimilation of the students from Kagamidai Academy. Her father is Japanese and her mother is British, but she speaks only Japanese because she was born and brought up in Japan.

Miu Amaha (天羽 みう) is a third-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy. She lives in a house nearby the school with her mother and two cats. She is the founder and president of the Nuko Club (ぬこ部), a school club to care various animals. She works part-time at a maid café named Dolce to earn money for activity of the club; the Nuko Club is not an official club, so the club's budget is not supplied by the school. She is very kind around Shingo and is fond of him. She is eldest but shortest among the main characters.

Sana Inui (乾 紗凪) is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy and Airi's childhood friend. Although a supporting character in the PC game version, she is a main character in the PSP game version. She likes Miu very much and is in the Nuko Club. She is kind to male students from Kagamidai Academy at first, but she later changes her attitude because she actually does not like boys. She dislikes Shingo especially and often calls him "kuzu-mushi" (クズムシ).

Yutsuki Onomiya (小野宮 結月) is a new female character included in the PSP game version. She is a second-year student of Yuihime Girls' Academy, but is not in Shingo's class. She is in the drama club. She is good at cooking but not good at cleaning. She lives in a shrine with her parents and grandmother.

Development
Mashiroiro Symphony is the ninth title developed by the visual novel developer Palette, after their previous titles such as ' and '. Mashiroiro Symphony ' s scenario was written by three people: Hozumi K, who wrote Airi and Angelina's storylines; Hare Kitagawa, who has previously worked on 's , provided Sakuno's storyline; and Orgel, who provided Miu and Sana's storyline. Character design and art direction for the game was split among two persons: Tsubasu Izumi, who worked on Feng's Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka, provided character designs for female characters; Tamahiyo provided designs for two male characters, Shingo Uryū and Hayata Mukunashi. Mashiroiro Symphony ' s music was solely composed by Burton, who provided music for Sakura Strasse.

Mashiroiro Symphony was first released for Microsoft Windows PCs on October 30, 2009. An all-ages edition developed by and published by Comfort playable on the PlayStation Portable (PSP), titled Mashiroiro Symphony: *mutsu no Hana, was released on June 30, 2011.

Manga
Mashiroiro Symphony received three manga adaptations illustrated by Japanese illustrator Futago Minazuki, which were serialized in the manga magazine . The first manga adaptation, which covers Airi Sena, was serialized between the November 2009 and October 2010 issues, published on September 26, 2009 and August 26, 2010, respectively. The twelve individual chapters were later collected into two tankōbon volumes published by on April 26, 2010 and September 25, 2010.

A second manga adaptation illustrated by Minazuki titled Mashiroiro Symphony: Wind of Silk (ましろ色シンフォニー -Wind of silk-), which covers Sana Inui, was serialized between the April and September 2011 issues of Comp Ace. Six chapters were collected into a single volume released on August 26, 2011.

A third manga illustrated by Minazuki titled Mashiroiro Symphony: Twinkle Moon (ましろ色シンフォニー -Twinkle moon-), which covers Yutsuki Onomiya, was serialized between the October 2011 and January 2012 issues of Comp Ace. Four chapters were collected into a single volume and will released on December 26, 2011. A manga anthology illustrated by various artists titled Magi-Cu 4-koma Mashiroiro Symphony was released by on March 25, 2010.

Drama CDs
released four drama CDs titled collectively as the Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama CD Series, one for each heroine. Airi's CD, titled Dotera, Mō Icchaku (どてら、もう一着), was released on July 21, 2010. Sakuno's CD, titled Nichiyōbi ni wa Te o Tsunaide (にちようびには手をつないで), was released on August 25, 2010. Angelina's CD, titled Tenshi ni wa Shukufuku no Mabushisa o (天使には祝福のまぶしさを), was released on September 22, 2010. Lastly, Miu's CD, titled Haru wa Omochi no Yakegoro (春はお餅のやけごろ), was released on October 27, 2010.

Internet radio show
An Internet radio show to promote the anime series titled Nuko-Radi! Nukumori ga Koishiku Naru Radio (ぬこラジ!〜ぬくもりが恋しくなるラジオ〜) began airing on October 4, 2011. The show is produced by and is streamed biweekly. It is hosted by and, the voices of Shingo and Airi in the anime, respectively. The opening theme is "Niji no Asa ni" (虹の朝に) by, and the ending theme is "Suisai Candy" (水彩キャンディー) by.

Anime
A 12-episode anime TV series adaptation produced by and directed by  titled Mashiroiro Symphony: The Color of Lovers (ましろ色シンフォニー -The color of lovers-) aired between October 5 and December 21, 2011 on. The story is based on Miu's route of the game, but also includes parts of other routes as well. The screenplay was written by Team Rikka, and the chief animation director Toshie Kawamura based the character design used in the anime on Tsubasu Izumi's and Tamahiyo's original concepts. The music was produced by Nijine, and the sound director is Satoshi Yano. The series was released on six Blu-ray Disc (BD) and DVD compilation volumes between January 25 and June 27, 2012. This series was streamed online with English-subtitles by and the. has licensed the series in North America and released the series with on DVD with English subtitles on December 4, 2012.

Music
The visual novel Mashiroiro Symphony has three theme songs: the opening theme "Symphonic Love" (シンフォニック・ラブ) sung by, the insert song "Sayonara Kimi no Koe" (さよなら君の声) sung by , and the ending theme "Kimi-Iro Mirai" (キミイロミライ) sung by ЯIRE. The PC game's original soundtrack was released by Palette on December 27, 2009. The opening theme for the PSP version is "Yumemiru Mama ni Koi o Shite" (夢見るままに恋をして) by Hashimoto. An image song album titled Mashiroiro Symphony Original Drama Series Sound Portrait was released on November 24, 2010 by Lantis featuring the theme songs from the drama CDs as well as other songs by Hashimoto, Misato, and ЯIRE.

The anime has two theme songs: the opening theme "Authentic Symphony" by, and the ending theme "Suisai Candy" (水彩キャンディー) by. "Sayonara Kimi no Koe" is also included in the anime's final episode. The single for "Authentic Symphony" was released on October 26, 2011, while the single for "Suisai Candy" was released on November 9, 2011. Two character song singles sung by the voice actresses from the anime were released by Lantis. The first, titled "Character Palette Vol. 1", for the characters Airi Sena and Sakuno Uryū, sung by and, respectively, was released on November 23, 2011. The second, titled "Character Palette Vol. 2", for the characters Miu Amaha, Sana Inui and Angelina Nanatsu Sewell, sung by, and , respectively, was released on December 21, 2011. The anime's original soundtrack titled Mashiroiro no Melody (ましろ色の旋律) was released on January 25, 2012.

Reception
From July to September 2009, Mashiroiro Symphony ranked three times in the top ten in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The rankings were at No. 10 in July, No. 7 in August, and No. 1 in September. Mashiroiro Symphony ranked twice in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan: at No. 1 in October 2009 and at No. 49 in January 2010.