Visual Novel / Never 7

The first game in the Infinity series.

Makoto Ishihara is a college student who rarely attends his classes. As a result, after finals, he is sent, along with three other students (Yuka Kawashima, Haruka Higuchi, and Okuhiko Iida) to a "Seminar Camp" on an island far away for a week during spring break as punishment. However, Makoto has a dream where, on April 6th, a girl dies before his eyes, a bell clutched in her hand. He wakes up from the dream to find out that it's April 1st.To make things even stranger, however, Makoto begins having premonitions of future events, each one turning out correct. As he wonders just what is going on, things grow even stranger as the week goes on...

This game was notable for being released in three different forms. The first release, infinity, was released for the PS1, and only contained the first five routes. The second release, INFINITY Cure., was released for the Neo Geo Pocket, and is cut down but also unique, containing only a reduced common route and its own versions of two of the routes: "Cure./YUKA" (Yuka's route from Yuka's own point of view) and "Cure./IZUMI" (a reimagining of Izumi's route). The third and final release was Never7: The End of Infinity for the Dreamcast, which combined all seven routes into one game. This release was later ported to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and mobile devices.

A Fan Translation was released on August 17th, 2012.

A port of the game to the LÖVE engine (that includes the fan-translation) was released in 2020, and is still being worked on.

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This game provides examples of:

• AB Negative: When Haruka is hit by a car in her route, she needs a transfusion of B-. As it turns out, the only person with the same blood type is Kurumi, Haruka's original.
• Actor Allusion: The scene where Makoto talks to Izumi at the pool is titled "You Were A Fish In Your Past Life!?" Kikuko Inoue, Izumi's seiyu, claims that she was a fish in her previous life.
• Ambiguous Situation:Izumi Curé route throws into doubt whether the story even takes place in anything more than a dream world and the resolution intentionally leaves it vague by having an entire deck of cards be blanked out after everything seems resolved.
  • Yuka's route provides a completely different explanation to what is going on than the Curé route does. Which one is actually correct?
  • The nature of the bell is never explained or expanded upon. The A ending of Izumi Curé reveals that a bell is enshrined in the Shiki no Mori shrine, but other than that, there is no explanation whatsoever on why exactly it is such a constant in the story. If Izumi's theory is correct and everything is a result of Makoto's Curé Syndrome, then why does the bell still keep showing up whenever someone dies, and why did both Yuka and Makoto dream about it? On the other hand, if we presume the events of the story are actually supernatural, we still have no idea why the bells and loops behave the way they do. Why were Makoto and Yuka the only ones who dreamt about the bell? Why did it specifically decide to cling to this cast of characters? And why is it that only Makoto, Yuka and Izumi can remember previous loops, with the latter two only doing so in their respective routes?
• Amnesiac Lover: A variation- on Haruka, Saki, and Kurumi's Routes, when Makoto goes back in time, none of them have any memory of the prior loop, forcing Makoto to restart his relationships with them from scratch.
• Another Side, Another Story: Yuka Curé route is a retelling of the second half of her route from her own perspective. It's apparently available even before finishing said route, however.
• Arc Number: 7, though nowhere near to the extent as in later titles of the series.
  • Seven characters
  • Seven days
  • The address of Saki's summer house is 3-8-7.
  • In the PC version, the textbox is rainbow colored- 7 colors.
  • The meaning of the title itself is supposed to mean "never reach 7", referring to the infinite loop and how Makoto can never get to April 7th, the seventh day.
• Arc Words: "Bell".
  • Haruka's Route- "I have no heart."
• All Just a Dream: The Curé B Ending turns Izumi Curé Route into one... maybe.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Yuka gives one to Makoto in her route, trying to convince him not to go up to the shrine (which led to his death in the first loop).
• April Fools' Plot: Okuhiko accuses Makoto of pulling one of this when he tells the group about his premonitions (which happens on April 1st).
• Brick Joke: At one point in Kurumi's route, Kurumi makes rice balls for Makoto. As it turns out, she added caviar. A lot of caviar, which she assumes Izumi won't notice the absence of. Several scenes later, she does.
  • And then, on the next iteration of the loop, Makoto expects the same thing, but it turns out to be foie gras instead.
• Calling Your Attack: Parodied in the tennis match with Yuka, who names her serves after cocktails.
• Cassandra Truth: Subverted: Makoto and Yuka/Izumi on their respective routes decides not to tell the others about the Time Travel because he doubts anyone would believe him. He does manage to convince Kurumi at the end of her route, but only by giving a lot of evidence from the first loop that didn't happen in the second loop.
  • Played straight on Izumi's Route where Makoto tells Izumi that she's going to die. However, as it turns out, this ends up becoming a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy when Makoto's own actions lead to her death.
• Cell Phones Are Useless: Despite it being the year 2019, none of the characters have cellphones. If they did have them, the problems in Yuka's Route and Haruka's Route could have easily been solved simply by calling Kurumi.
• Cherry Blossoms: A whole row of them on the island, which become prominent in Yuka's route.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Saki has a strong tendency to simply vanish whenever anyone else's story begins. Even in the Izumi Curé route she's almost entirely absent throughout the entire story.
  • To the point where in Never7, she was the only character who had no new voice acting- all of her lines in the new route reused audio from Infinity.
  • She does tend to have little screentime in routes other than her own, but it should be said that she still manages to impact the story. In Yuka's route, for instance, she's the one who gives Makoto a crucial piece of information; meanwhile, in Haruka's route, she's the one who carries her to the hospital in the good ending.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The bell, which appears on someone's hand whenever they die.
• Cue the Sun: The end of Yuka's Route.
• Dead-Hand Shot: The game starts with one.
• Despair Event Horizon: If one believes Izumi's theories, this actually turns out to be the reason for the time travel: whenever one of the girls die, Makoto's despair activates his Curé Syndrome, creating a delusionary world where the girl is still alive.
• Diving Save: During the second loop in Haruka's route, if Makoto chooses to protect Saki's puppy (an action that Haruka did in the first loop, leading to her death) Haruka pushes Makoto out of the way of a car in her route, getting hit instead.
• Drives Like Crazy: During the epilogue, a drunken Yuka steers the boat home. It's rather comical◊.
• Fan Work: KID explicitly encouraged this with the Append Story system (essentially Fan Fiction turned into Visual Novel scenarios)
• Fantastic Racism: Before the Clone Law (legalizing the creation of clones) was passed in 2010, it was common for pre-existing clones to be discriminated against. Even in 2019, when the story takes place, this still goes on- particularly Saki towards Haruka, (although this has less to do with a hatred of clones rather than a somewhat tramautic event in her childhood.)
  • It was also for this reason that Shigezo gave Haruka to the Higuchis, (although given that it was 2002, it's also likely that he was trying to cover up that he ever made a clone- after the Clone Law was passed, he made no attempt at taking Haruka back.
• First Kiss: No matter what route you're on, Makoto gives Haruka her first kiss on Day 3 (albeit a chaste one on the forehead).
• Game-Breaking Bug: The original Infinity had a bug that made it impossible to play Izumi's route. A reprint was done that fixed this error.
• Gaslighting: Subverted- while Izumi and Okuhiko had intended to do this to Makoto (by convincing him he was having premonitions), they never actually do it as Izumi realizes that Makoto is actually having real premonitions.
  • However, if Izumi's theory is correct, then this was played straight in the first loop ever, where they did actually convince Makoto he was having premonitions. However, in a slight subversion, he believed something completely different than they had intended- rather than believing he had precognition, he believed he had time traveled once before.
• Golden Ending: The epilogue you get after seeing the Curé A ending twice (or just once, in the Eternal edition) could be said to be this. While it's seen right after the aforementioned ending, it doesn't really fit any one route, but rather seems to take place after an ideal (and never seen in-game) run in which Makoto solves everyone's problems. Well, except maybe for Yuka's, since this epilogue never clarifies which heroine he ended up dating (if he ended up with anyone at all), but her issues were already the least worrisome of the entire main cast, anyway.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars- Subverted with Kurumi- the scar on her back has caused her to be shunned by other boys. While we never see it, Makoto describes it as looking horrifying.
• Good-Times Montage: Subverted to Tear Jerker levels in Kurumi's route, where, after Kurumi dies in the first loop, he remembers all the good and bad times he shared with Kurumi. The last memory he has? Kurumi telling him she hates him.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Albeit a bit more orthodox than most of them, and subverted a bit in that time is still moving forward, not actually looping.
• Guide Dang It!: The last flags for the Kurumi and Izumi routes are triggered by picking the other sister's option, something that only makes sense in hindsight.
  • Getting Izumi's normal Route can also be difficult, as it requires taking only one very slightly different action to get the Izumi Curé, and one that will seem like the opposite of what is needed at the time.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted in both Yuka and Haruka's routes. In Yuka's Route, Makoto attempts to protect Yuka from being crushed by debris, but because he hesitates for one second, both of them are crushed. See the Diving Save entry for Haruka's example. Played straight in Yuka's past, where the boy she liked sacrificed his life to save her and her classmates from a burning hotel.
• Hollywood Darkness
• Jerkass Ball: the entire cast gains a few levels in jerkassery in Izumi's route, essentially - the only exception is arguably Izumi herself. Sure enough, that route's not canon, but it can still be jarring.
• Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: While not as big as in later games in the series, it's still present here.
• Kick the Dog: Makoto literally does this to a puppy in Saki's route, in a misguided attempt to get her to admit to being friends with the animal. He initally attempts to just lightly hit it with the tip of his shoe, but ends up overdoing it and getting slapped by Saki as a result. The puppy does forgive him later, though.
• Kimodameshi: In a graveyard.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Due to Ever17, the existence of Curé, which is carefully hidden until the last route of the game, is basically the only thing most know about the game.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the normal Izumi route, by the end Makoto and Izumi make video game analogies to walkthroughs and save points.
• Love at First Sight: Claimed by Yuka and Izumi.
• Love Epiphany: Makoto in Haruka's Route. He also does at the end of the first loop in Izumi's Route... after she's already fallen to her "death".
• Love Triangle: One between Makoto-Haruka-Okuhiko in Haruka's Route.
• Memory Gambit: If Izumi's theory is correct, then Makoto pulled this off in an attempt to time travel to save the girl's life without remembering the trauma of seeing the girl die, being unable to accept their death. However, he allows himself to remember a bit more until he finally remembers everything on the last loops.
• Mental Time Travel: Subverted: while this does appear to be what Makoto's going through in each route, the truth is actually a bit more complicated than that.
• Mind Screw: Is everything that happens in the story reality? A delusion of Makoto's? Or some combination of the two? The answer is deliberately left unanswered, and is supposed to be up to the reader's interpretation.
• Modesty Towel: Yuka and Makoto wear one in the onsen.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Makoto's past can differ depending on the player's choices (such as whether he's kissed someone before, when his first love was, etc). This is Fridge Brilliance when you realize that all of those choices are potentially correct due to Makoto's Curé Syndrome.
• Multiple Endings: Naturally, given this game's nature. There are seven routes: Yuka, Yuka Curé, Haruka, Saki, Kurumi, Izumi Curé, and the non-canon Izumi route; each one has at least two endings.
• Poor Communication Kills: Every girl except for Haruka dies as a result from some sort of communication failure with Makoto in their routes. Haruka also dies from this, but not with Makoto- see below.
  • Haruka and Saki's rivalry is a result of this, as both assume the other is the other person in their memories regarding a bell (Saki's involving a random clone girl, Haruka's involving Izumi.). As it turns out, they were two separate, unrelated incidents, but neither figure this out (except in Saki's Route, thanks to Makoto).
    • This indirectly causes Haruka's death in her route, as Saki walks across Makoto and Haruka (who have found a puppy Saki takes care of), then turns back as she sees them. This leads the puppy to run after Saki, putting in the path of the speeding car, forcing Haruka to protect the puppy, saving its life at the cost of her own.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Makoto in Haruka's Route, where, after running and biking around the entire island several times for five hours in a heavy rainstorm to search for Kurumi, finally faints after he gets Kurumi to the clinic to save Haruka's life.
  • Repeated again in Izumi Curé, where Makoto gets hit by a car in order to save Haruka and Izumi. He survives, and stands up long enough to confirm everyone's okay before collapsing.
• The Power of Trust: An important theme in several routes, especially Haruka and Saki's.
• Reality Warper: This is essentially what Curé Syndrome does- it replaces the real world with the delusion inside the afflicted's head.
• Red Herring: If one believes Izumi's theory (see Schrödinger's Gun below), Yuka's Route turns out to be one big one, as all the theories about what's going on in that route contradict Izumi's explanations.
• Retcon: Originally, the events between Tom and Julia took place in 2014. Ever17 retconned it so that they took place in 2005 instead, so as to allow Tsugumi's involvement with it.
• Schrödinger's Gun: Discussed in one of the TIPS, which proposes that since reality is subjective, Curé Syndrome may not have actually existed in any of the other routes except Izumi Curé (since Makoto has never heard of the concept, and is therefore "unable to observe it"), meaning that it really could have been supernatural occurrences occurring in all the other routes... possibly.
• Second Love: Makoto becomes this to Yuka and Kurumi in their routes.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The goal of every route (except Izumi's Route).
• Shout-Out:
  • A few to the KID Visual Novel Memories Off:
    • Yuka buys a keychain of a fat cat at one point in the game, a reference to an actual pregnant cat from Memories Off.
    • A reverse Shout-Out occured in Memories Off Pure: the name of the protagonist's homeroom and English teacher is "Yuka Kawashima" (there's no evidence that they're the same person, though the protagonist's description of her personality does sound similar to the Never7 Yuka).
    • The main heroine of Memories Off, Yue, makes a cameo in the game as a little girl.
    • Izumi's alma mater is Sumisora Academy, the high school from the game.
  • During the tennis match on day one, Yuka makes an Aim for the Ace! reference. In the English translation, this was changed to a The Prince of Tennis reference.
• Stepford Smiler: Yuka and Kurumi.
• Student/Teacher Romance: Izumi/Makoto, on her routes.
• Suddenly Sober: Subverted, when Makoto tries to have a serious conversation at the pool and the second barbecue with Yuka, she's too drunk to take him seriously. Double subverted in Yuka Curé, where it's revealed that Yuka did sober up mid conversation with Makoto (after she almost confessed to him), but she pretended to be drunk so he would think she was joking.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: This is Yuka's main issue, as revealed in Yuka Curé: after the death of the boy she loved, she's been too afraid to get in another relationship, as she still hasn't gotten over his death and is afraid of feeling the same pain she did when she lost him.
• Third-Person Person: Kurumi.
• Time Travel: Or so it seems. In the Izumi's normal route, the time travel does not happen at all.
• Together in Death: Yuka and Saki's bad endings.
• Unreliable Narrator: While it's not obvious at first, Makoto's narration leaves out a few key events- particularly anything related to him wishing for his delusional time travel. Justified, as Makoto made himself forget he was having delusions through his Curé Syndrome.
• Wham Line: The final line of the Curé A Ending, just before the credits start, implying that perhaps everything is a delusion after all.

  The cards scattered on the floor... They're... completely blank...

• What Year Is This?: When Makoto time travels in Yuka, Kurumi, and Izumi's Routes, the first thing he usually does is ask the people around him if it's really April 1st.
• You Can't Fight Fate: No matter what Makoto does on any route, the girl he's with will always end up in the same situation that led to her death in the first loop (with the exception of Izumi).

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