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Leitmotif / Visual Novels

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  • Several characters in Ace Attorney have their own leitmotifs; for example, Godot's "The Fragrance of Darkness; That is Coffee", which was used quite cleverly later on.
  • Klavier's theme music, "Guilty Love", is actually heard by other characters, although it's justified: it's the no. 1 hit of his band, the Gavinners.
  • Ema Skye's theme, "Turnabout Sisters 2005" is remixed and accompanies her every time she appears in a new game (renamed "The Scientific Detective" starting with Apollo Justice).
    • Despite being called a "2005" mix, the original "Turnabout Sisters" has a different melody and is used as the theme of Maya Fey (the original being called "Turnabout Sisters 2001" and also has "2002" and "2016" variations).
  • The "Objection!" theme of each game is considered the leitmotif of the main character; in Ace Attorney Investigations, Miles Edgeworth's "Objection!" theme is a remix of his theme song, "Triumphant Return".
    • Dual Destinies gives three such themes, one for each playable character: "Objection!" for Phoenix, "A New Chapter of Trials" for Apollo Justice, and "Courtroom Révolutionnaire" for Athena Cykes. Apollo and Athena also have non-court variations of their themes ("I'm Fine!" and "Let's Do This!", respectively) that play when interacted with outside the courtroom setting.
  • Similarly, each of their "Pursuit" themes: the most outstanding is "Pursuit - Corner the Culprit" from the first game, which is synonymous with Phoenix Wright's feats of badassery.
  • Often times, a character's theme will be remixed as a sadder theme to fit the mood. For example, Maya Fey's "Turnabout Sisters' Theme" becomes "Turnabout Sisters' Ballad", Shi-Long Lang's "Speak Up, Pup!" becomes "The Fall of the House of Lang", and Athena Cykes' "Courtroom Révolutionnaire" becomes "A Sad Memory".
  • Characters in the Girls' Love VN Akai Ito and Aoi Shiro have Leitmotif, but Yumei's Itsuka no Hikari was actually promoted to a vocal single later (along with Nushi's sinister Wheel of Fortune).
  • All of CLANNAD's main female characters had their own themes. The ending song of the anime, Dango Daikazoku, even goes on to have the same tune as Nagisa's eponymous theme music.
    • Worth noting that virtually all of the main female characters in Key/Visual Arts' visual novels feature their own themes, and there's even one for a male character. (Natsume Kyousuke from Little Busters!)
    • Non-animate things have leitmotifs, too. For an example, a song called Snowfield plays when it's snowing.
    • On the same topic, a few themes are used for any event filling a certain theme, such as Shining in the sky and The Place Where Wishes Come True being used for many of the more triumphant instances, A couple of idiots and Meaningful ways to pass the time for many of the comedic plot development scenes, Sping Wind and To the same heights for plot development in general and Distant Years along with Town, Flow of Time, People for flashbacks.
  • Almost every major character and every situation in Daughter for Dessert has a theme. Lily has two: an initial one for her carefree, goofy exterior and another once the protagonist brings out her femininity (if the player decides to go that route).
  • The four girls of Doki Doki Literature Club! are all represented by variations of the theme "Okay Everyone!" played with different instruments. Cheerful Genki Girl Sayori gets a version played on a ukelele and a soft flute. Natsuki's version is a more simple composition played on a xylophone and a recorder, reflecting her childish innocence and Glurge Addict aspect of her personality, and her minimalist poetic writing style. Sophisticated dark-haired Yuri, fond of Purple Prose, has a distinctly complex piece played on a cello and a harp. Finally, Monika's version is a simple piano piece.
  • Almost every major character in Double Homework has a theme tune, and certain kinds of situations have them as well. Additionally, the theme tunes of two characters change as the story progresses:
    • Dennis gets a louder, more aggressive one as his stereotypical nerd exterior gives way to an angry, perverted narcissism.
    • As the protagonist gets to know Morgan and gets past her rough exterior, her theme tune changes in the opposite direction.
  • The protagonist's mother from Dra+Koi has a leitmotif that is a military sounding chant of various moe terms including moe itself. Moe! Moe! Moe moe moe! She herself is not very moe at all.
  • Fate/stay night has several, including Die Lorelei for Ilya (which is also a pre-existing song), ''The Golden King'' for Gilgamesh, and All Evils of the World for Dark Sakura and Angra Mainyu.
  • her tears were my light has a character theme for Space and another one for Nil. The lower part from Space's theme returns at the end of the happy ending theme.
  • Every dateable girl in Katawa Shoujo comes with her own theme. So do several other characters, such as the Nurse and his jazzy-sounding "Ah Eh I Oh You", Kenji with his wacky "Out of the Loop" or "Caged Heart" for Hisao (this one is fairly rare and only plays during specific scenes).
  • Each of the heroines in Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! gets their own, of course, and Yamato has one himself as well. Various remixes of the two ending songs and the insert song are also used sparsely, and to good effect.
  • Each girl from Symphonic Rain has two leitmotifs: an instrumental version of their insert song which is played in story and an instrumental version of their image song which plays during the credits of their route. Chris himself also has Rain in my Heart.
  • The Tokimeki Memorial series makes extensive use of this trope : each character in the series has its own iconic tune, which plays each time they show up, and even starts to play a fraction of seconds before the character appears on screen (so the first cue of who shows up is actually musical). Played with in Tokimeki Memorial 2 with Kaori Yae, who has a more cheerful variation of her Leitmoif, which plays when she finally overcomes her painful past and turns back to her former Genki Girl self, and fully falls in love with the protagonist who patiently and affectionately helped her along the way.
  • Several characters in Umineko: When They Cry have one, most of which are brain-meltingly awesome. Most notably, Battler has "Dread of the Grave", Beato has "Organ Opusculum in C Minor", and Eva-Beatrice has the Soundtrack Dissonance-tastic "Happiness of Marionette".


Alternative Title(s): Visual Novel

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