The posts wouldn't be deleted. Aoki Haruhi needed to keep them as a reminder of their failure.
However, he added a new line to the forum announcement: [ Please speak kindly ].
Unexpectedly, this "kind reminder" once again drew the ire of the players.
"Hahaha, I woke up today and saw a new line in the forum announcement asking everyone to speak kindly. I wondered what that was all about. Are we not being kind enough? We haven't even been using profanity, have we?"
Aoki Haruhi's brow furrowed deeply as he read the post.
You're using words like 'Shine', and you still claim to be kind?
The post continued:
"This is Pokeni's official forum, right? The announcement says players can speak freely and review the game. If that's the case, then the most basic principle should be: praise the game if it's good, and criticize it if it's bad. We're just stating the facts. If the facts prove me wrong in the future, I will definitely apologize for my comments."
Post deleted!
Aoki Haruhi ground his teeth in frustration, memorizing the username [ Time Agent ].
Just you wait!
This promotional blitz may not have won them any goodwill, but it certainly achieved its goal. Whether they'd played the game or not, practically everyone had heard of CLANNAD.
Insiders in the gaming community weren't too optimistic, as the game hadn't met their expectations. Still, they were now aware of it, and even those who had never played a galgame before were up to speed on recent events.
Pokeni had even set up a dedicated forum just to take the heat, which became a laughingstock for everyone.
Compared to the hardcore gamers, the general public was much more forgiving. After all, experienced players knew exactly what they were looking at and could tell a good game from a bad one at a glance. It wasn't that CLANNAD was bad, but the promotional video had been a bit too mediocre. Though they were reluctant to use the word "mediocre," that's exactly how the players felt.
The outsiders, on the other hand, were mostly Hayao Miyazaki's die-hard fans. They loved his previous anime films, so they were naturally excited to hear he was involved in this game.
For those who had never experienced a galgame, CLANNAD's PV was actually quite good. Miyazaki's art style combined with the beautiful, melodic music created a warm yet melancholic atmosphere. This was a departure from his previous works, which piqued the curiosity of many non-gamers.
If for no other reason, they wanted to give Hayao Miyazaki a chance.
Kawasaki Toshihiko was one such player.
Strictly speaking, although he had purchased the MD-CD, he had little time to actually play the game. His work required frequent business trips, flying back and forth between Japan and the Philippines, and occasionally to the US.
Expanding the company's business made him a very typical salesperson. But precisely because of this job, he had visited many countries, from China and South Korea in Asia to France in Europe... He had been fortunate enough to sightsee in a whole series of countries.
Although business trips were exhausting, experiencing exotic customs and appreciating the local cultural characteristics was still a wonderful life experience.
In Northern Europe, he had once seen the castle from Hayao Miyazaki's films. He had also visited the filming locations for Kiki's Delivery Service.
Kiki's Delivery Service was adapted from the novel of the same name by Kadono Eiko, with the story set in a fictional Northern European country. Therefore, when adapting it into an animated film, Miyazaki drew his primary visual inspiration from two Swedish cities: Stockholm and Visby. The seaside town of Koriko, where Kiki lives, is a hybrid of these two cities.
In short, Kawasaki Toshihiko himself couldn't tell if he fell in love with the scenery around the world after watching Miyazaki's animations, or if his love for world-famous scenic spots and historical sites had led him to fall in love with Miyazaki's animations. By the time he realized it, he had already become a devoted fan of Hayao Miyazaki.
The more you understand human history, the more you admire a painting master like Miyazaki, who can think about problems from a human perspective and possesses such a high spiritual realm.
This time, he had a rare opportunity to spend his vacation in Japan.
He had about a month to do absolutely nothing and just freely enjoy life.
It was mid-August.
Having just returned from the Philippines, Kawasaki Toshihiko heard about a game called CLANNAD. Even more astonishingly, he learned that Hayao Miyazaki was its Animation Director. He immediately decided he had to play it.
What was even more touching was that the release date was just around the corner on September 5th.
Everything had fallen into place so perfectly.
Kawasaki Toshihiko felt incredibly lucky.
Some knowledgeable gamers around him, upon hearing that he wanted to buy CLANNAD, immediately tried to dissuade him.
"This is a galgame, you know? And since it hasn't even gone on sale yet, many players are still skeptical about the actual gameplay experience. Why don't you wait and see for a while?"
This was the general consensus among most galgame players. While they were fond of the genre and trusted the combination of Kohara Tsubaki and Hayao Miyazaki, the promotional video made them hesitate to buy the game immediately.
It seemed wiser to wait and see what others had to say about the game after experiencing it themselves. If the game was good enough to earn a positive reputation, it wouldn't be too late to purchase it then.
However, Kawasaki Toshihiko disagreed. "My vacation isn't that long," he said. "How am I supposed to have time to 'wait and see'? Besides, isn't this the very same Hayao Miyazaki serving as the Animation Director? It's bound to be excellent."
"But it's a galgame," Tomoya continued to persuade him, "and it could even be one of those generic ones."
"A galgame?" Kawasaki Toshihiko frowned in thought for a moment, then his face lit up with a smile.
"What a coincidence! I actually love games like that. I've played galgames before, but not many, so they're still quite fresh to me."
Kawasaki Toshihiko explained that he rarely had time to play games and was also quite picky about a game's art style.
That's why he hardly ever played galgames. This time, he was buying it specifically for Hayao Miyazaki.
"Man, why won't you listen? If you want to experience a galgame, there are tons of high-quality ones on the market. Even Pokeni has plenty of great titles you could play."
"But they aren't drawn by Hayao Miyazaki," Kawasaki Toshihiko retorted.
Tomoya froze, momentarily at a loss for words.
Seeing how stubborn the guy was, he figured there was no point in trying to persuade him further.
"You might regret this later, you know."
"How much could I possibly regret? This game will sell ten thousand copies at most."
"Uh..."
Tomoya was left speechless.
All he could say was that Kawasaki was an ideal consumer. Once he set his mind on something, he wouldn't spare a single penny.
Though the wait was long, the time flew by.
Soon, September 5th arrived.
This was the official release date of Pokeni's new title, CLANNAD.
Although Kawasaki had been saying how much he was looking forward to the game, his recent struggle with jet lag had left him so groggy and disoriented that he'd almost forgotten.
It wasn't until he saw a game commercial during a TV program that he finally remembered.
Oh, right. Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, CLANNAD, is supposed to come out today.
He hurriedly threw on his clothes and shoes and rushed to the nearest game store.
Crap, crap! What if everyone's already bought up all the copies of Master Miyazaki's work?
He knew all too well the immense draw of Hayao Miyazaki.
Kawasaki guessed that for a highly anticipated game like this, there would be a massive line snaking around the block.
He was already late, so by the time he got in line, who knew how many hours he'd have to wait?
There was even a chance the game would be sold out by the time he reached the front.
However, when Kawasaki Toshihiko arrived at the store, he found only a few people outside.
There didn't even seem to be a line.
Huh? Why is it so quiet?
"Store Manager, today's the release date for CLANNAD, right?" Kawasaki Toshihiko asked.
The store manager was a plump, middle-aged man in uniform, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He paused slightly when he heard the word "CLANNAD," a hint of surprise crossing his face.
There were two reasons for his astonishment.
First, the word "CLANNAD" was a bizarre term of unknown origin and meaning, yet this man had pronounced it perfectly and fluently.
According to Pokeni's official explanation, CLANNAD was an abbreviation of the Celtic phrase CLANN As Dango. It referred to family, home, and kinship—or, more broadly, the entire town where the characters lived.
Japanese people already struggled with foreign words, often pronouncing them with a strange accent. Yet this tall young man spoke the word so fluently; it was truly a rare sight.
Second, the man was actually here to buy CLANNAD. It was simply unbelievable.
Ever since the PV's release, players' expectations had been forcibly lowered, causing many to hesitate. It wasn't that they wouldn't buy it, but rather that they wanted to wait for others to play it first and then decide based on the feedback. They were the fence-sitters of the gaming community.
There were actually very few die-hard Pokeni fans.
This also explained why so few people had come to buy the game today, despite it being the release date of P Corporation's new title.
The Store Manager himself felt the game might be a total flop. He wondered how much money the President was going to lose.
Suddenly, someone appearing and wanting to buy CLANNAD was truly a surprise.
However, the Store Manager was a professional after all. He quickly adjusted his expression and smiled. "Yes, today is the release date for CLANNAD. This is a joint creation by Master Kohara Tsubaki and Master Hayao Miyazaki."
The game had just been released today. Although the discs had arrived in stock a few days ago, the Store Manager himself hadn't had time to experience it.
Therefore, all he could say was the biggest selling point in the public's mind:
Kogahara Tsubaki and Hayao Miyazaki—isn't that enough?
If not, then there's nothing more to be done.
Who knew that the young man in front of him would hear this and his eyes would light up.
"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for."
Hmm...
The Store Manager hesitated for a second, then pointed. "The middle shelf, the top layer, it's all CLANNAD."
This time, the President had ordered a huge amount of stock—a whopping 100,000 copies. As a result, most of the warehouse and shelf space was taken up by CLANNAD.
However, judging by the current situation, things didn't seem very optimistic.
After being guided by the store manager, Kawasaki Toshihiko quickly found the copy of CLANNAD on the shelf.
He gently wiped the cover with his sleeve and smiled with delight.
The cover art featured two girls, one older and one younger, holding hands. The older girl wore her hair in a ponytail and was dressed in a white dress with a bow. The younger one wore a child's outfit and a sun hat. In the distance, blue skies and white clouds stretched across the horizon.
Below the image, several lines of small text read:
[ CLANNAD An experience as moving as light piercing the darkness ][ Produced by Pokeni Co., Ltd. ][ Producer: Kohara Tsubaki ][ Animation Director: Hayao Miyazaki ][ Script: Jun Maeda ]
Although the original story was created by Aoki Haruhi, the task of fleshing it out was entrusted to Jun Maeda. Aoki Haruhi had requested not to be credited in this section, so Jun Maeda's name was used as the scriptwriter.
When Maeda heard about this decision, he was both overjoyed and terrified.
He was overjoyed, thinking, "How did I deserve to use Master Kohara Tsubaki's name to become the scriptwriter? The story wasn't my original creation anyway; I just processed it, refining it and making it more concrete."
But he was also terrified: "This game is so heart-wrenching. When it comes out, I'll be the one everyone hates, the one who'll get knives sent to his house."
Sharing the brunt of the backlash meant Kohara-sensei would be spared, and Jun Maeda found himself in a state of wry amusement.
Kawasaki Toshihiko took a deep breath.
The packaging was exceptionally exquisite. Just by looking at the cover art on the box, he could immediately recognize it—
Hayao Miyazaki's style.
It was truly a vision of pure beauty.
"Yes, this is exactly what I wanted!"
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