History VideoGame / FlowerSunAndRain

''Flower, Sun, and Rain'' (known as ''Hana to Taiyō to Ame to'' in Japanese) is an AdventureGame developed by Creator/GrasshopperManufacture and written and directed by Creator/Suda51 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in 2001. The game revolves around Sumio Mondo, a "searcher" who finds things using his silver briefcase/computer who he refers to as Catherine. Sumio has come to Lospass Island to take on a job by Edo, manager of the Hotel Flower, Sun, and Rain. Apparently, a bomb has been planted on an airplane by a terrorist, and Sumio must find it and defuse it. The next day, though, he becomes unwillingly sidetracked by forces out of his control, and the plane flies over the island and explodes.

Part of Suda's "Kill the Past" universe, along with such games as ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'', ''VideoGame/TheTwentyFifthWard'' and (distantly) ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}''. A Nintendo DS port was released in 2008, which severely downgraded the graphics and sound; however, it is the only version of the game released outside of Japan.

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Certain characters, including Sumio himself, have several cloned bodies stored underground that they can BodySurf to, knowingly or not]].

* ICallItVera: Why does Sumio call it "Catherine"? Because it's better than calling it "Bob". (Or "[[VideoGame/TheSilverCase Tetsugoro]]" in the original Japanese.) He calls his car "Giggs" as well.

''Flower, Sun, and Rain'' (known as ''Hana to Taiyō to Ame to'' in Japanese) is an AdventureGame developed by Creator/GrasshopperManufacture and written and directed by Creator/Suda51 for the UsefulNotes/Playstation2 in 2001. The game revolves around Sumio Mondo, a "searcher" who finds things using his silver briefcase/computer who he refers to as Catherine. Sumio has come to Lospass Island to take on a job by Edo, manager of the Hotel Flower, Sun, and Rain. Apparently, a bomb has been planted on an airplane by a terrorist, and Sumio must find it and defuse it. The next day, though, he becomes unwillingly sidetracked by forces out of his control, and the plane flies over the island and explodes.

* AlienGeometries: A cave late in the game leads to ''the upper deck of a boat'', among other examples.

* AllJustADream: Sumio initially assumes that this is what's going on after he sees the airplane explode and then wakes up in his hotel bed.

* GroundhogDayLoop: In Request 0, Sumio is told that a "strange magnetic field" has caused the island to lose its past, and in chapter 11, he's told explicitly that time is repeating. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}}. Time isn't literally repeating; each "day" consists of the experiences of one of 15 Sumio clones.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: Full of them. From both Flower, Sun, and Rain ''and'' ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase''.

[[GroundhogDayLoop Sumio wakes up in his hotel room.]] Edo tells him he needs to get to the airport to stop the plane from exploding. Arbitrary sidequests, surreal dialogue, number puzzles, self-deprecation, player trolling and MindScrew ensues.

Part of Suda's "Kill the Past" universe, along with such games as ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'', ''VideoGame/TheTwentyFifthWard'' and ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}''. A Nintendo DS port was released in 2008, which severely downgraded the graphics and sound; however, it is the only version of the game released outside of Japan.

* AllJustADream: Sumio initially assumes that this is what's going on after he sees the airplane explode and then wakes up in his bed.

* FinalBoss: [[spoiler: {{Subverted}}. Sumio expects to find one at the airport, but Sundance simply talks with Sumio and lets him leave.]]

* GroundhogDayLoop: In Request 0, Sumio is told that a "strange magnetic field" has caused the island to lose its past, and in chapter 11, he's told explicitly that time is repeating. [[spoiler: Subverted. Time isn't literally repeating; each "day" consists of the experiences of one of 15 Sumio clones.]]
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Sundance Shot is the latest iteration of Kamui Uehara.]]

* IdiotHero: Many characters treat Sumio like one. He's not truly an idiot, [[GoodIsDumb he's just so passive and helpful that he allows people to treat him badly and take advantage of him for their own needs, to the point of not being able to do the job he was actually hired for.]]

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Shoutaro's father turns out to be just as immature and annoying as his son is.
* MindScrew: An extreme example; there's definitely some kind of backstory and logic to the events going on, but you aren't directly told any of it.

* NPCRoadblock: Usually the in-universe reason why Sumio can't reach the airplane in time.

** In request 14, each time a radio puzzle is solved, the music in the wheat field area gets changed accordingly to the channel the guidebook alluded to.
** After Edo [[spoiler:vanishes mysteriously during Request 15]], Sue replaces him in his functions until the final chapter. This includes the save screens.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Much of the game's colorful cast [[spoiler:inexplicably disappears after Request 10, when the plot picks up speed. From then on, only two more characters are introduced who have no bearing on the game's overall plot.]] [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that [[spoiler:Edo is ultimately requesting you destroy the island. [[FridgeBrilliance Of course they would want the guests evacuated.]]]]

* StealthSequel: To ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase''. In the beginning, returning names can be brushed off as just references, but as the game goes on it expects you more and more to actually know about the events of the previous game until the very end, [[spoiler:when the game interface actually ''switches back'' to that of ''The Silver Case'']].

* TakeYourTime: ZigZagged. The PlayerCharacter is ''forced'' to do meaningless {{Side Quest}}s, even though there are bombs about to blow up and kill people. And, when you finish them, which you have all the time in the world to do, the airplane blows up because you spent all that time doing meaningless sidequests instead of defusing the bombs.

* ActionBomb: [[spoiler:"Step" is actually a stock body who has been upgraded into a bomb.]]

** You don't play as Sumio in Request 12 and Request 13 [[spoiler:because he's dead]], and their puzzle segments don't involve using Catherine.

* EventFlag: Lampshaded by Stephan, who openly refers to activating the game's arbitrary event flags, much to Sumio's confusion. There are many other references throughout the game to only being able to do certain actions in a sequence triggered by doing other arbitrary things first.

* FinalBoss: [[spoiler: Subverted. Sumio expects to find one at the airport, but Sundance simply talks with Sumio and lets him leave.]]
* FridgeLogic: [[invoked]] Shoutaro angers Sumio by repeatedly trying to point out flaws in the game's internal logic, such as [[GraphicsInducedSuperDeformed the polygon models having unrealistic proportions]] or why Sumio would choose to wear a black suit on a tropical island. Sumio is horrified and says that what he's doing is [[FelonyMisdemeanor worse than the airplane bombs]].

* IAmWho: [[spoiler:Sumio Mondo is Sumio Kodai, a character from the previous game.]]

* StealthSequel: To ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase''. In the beginning, returning names can be brushed off as just references, but as the game goes on it expects you more and more to actually know about the events of the previous game until the very end, [[spoiler:when the game engine actually ''switches back'' to that of ''The Silver Case'']].

* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Which "jack" do you need to use to connect Catherine to whatever object contains the puzzle? The only way to find out is to try them until you find one that works.

* WhamEpisode: R11 - Clair de Lune and R17 - Kill the Past.

* [[spoiler:CloningBlues]]: [[spoiler:Certain characters, including Sumio himself, have several cloned bodies stored underground that they can BodySurf to, knowingly or not]].

* PaintingTheMedium: In request 14, each time a radio puzzle is solved, the music in the wheat field area gets changed accordingly to the channel the guidebook alluded to.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Much of the game's colorful cast [[spoiler:inexplicably disappears after Request 10, when the plot picks up speed. From then on, only two more characters are introduced who have no bearing on the game's overall plot.]]
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that [[spoiler:Edo is ultimately requesting you destroy the island. [[FridgeBrilliance Of course they would want the guests evacuated.]]]]

* PaintingTheMedium: In request 15, each time a radio puzzle is solved, the music in the wheat field area gets changed accordingly to the channel the guidebook alluded to.
** After Edo [[spoiler:vanishes mysteriously during Request 16]], Sue replaces him in his functions until the final chapter. This includes the save screens.

* WhamLine: A small one occurs at the end of Request 8: when questioned about the place where she and Seiji were raised, Yuuri answers that they were Shelter Kids. This casts off any doubts about this game being standalone.

* VoiceGrunting: Inflected sound effects take the place of voice acting, making the dialogue sound like some strange sort of warped, muffled gobbledygook. [[spoiler:When it's revealed that the player character, Sumio Mondo, is actually [[TheSilverCase Sumio Kodai]], [[HidingTheHandicap it all makes sense.]]]]

* VoiceGrunting: Inflected sound effects take the place of voice acting, making the dialogue sound like some strange sort of warped, muffled gobbledygook. [[spoiler:When it's revealed that the player character, Sumio Mondo, is actually Sumio Kodai, [[HidingTheHandicap it all makes sense.]]]]

* VoiceGrunting: Inflected sound effects take the place of voice acting.

* TalkingAnimal: Christina, the pink alligator. Who happens to be male.

* NotAMorningPerson: Sumio declares himself this at the beginning of Request 1. And indeed, he isn't; in most chapters, he stumbles and falls face-first to the floor after he gets out of bed. [[spoiler:There's someone under the bed tripping him.]]