I was so happy then...
ONE ~To the Radiant Season~ (or One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e) is a 1998 visual novel, by Tactics, a branch of the Visual Arts company Nexton. The makers of ONE ~To the Radiant Season~ would later form Key/Visual Arts and make Kanon; they would, however, take a lot of inspiration from ONE, especially character design. Take a look at the picture and then look at Ayu from Kanon.
ONE tells the story of Kouhei Orihara, a Japanese high school student who suddenly finds his ordinary, everyday life pushed to the brink of collapse by the seemingly inexplorable expansion of an inner reality which threatens to replace his own. In the long and cold winter before the Radiant Season, he will encounter new friends, rediscover old promises, witness ties forged and broken, and learn of the things which everyone must leave behind.
Kouhei suspects that at some point his current life will change while living a peaceful daily routine. His parents died when he was very young, and after his younger sister dies, he begins to seclude himself in the Eternal World, a world within his mind. The game's recurring theme is a focus on the Eternal World, an alternate space that Kouhei created out of his want for a place in which nothing ever changes. He starts receding into this world about a week before disappearing, during which every one (including the girl he loves) forgets about him, and he falls into the Eternal World completely, making it seem as if he never existed in the real world. His only hope of returning is to form a strong bond with someone prior to leaving, and to follow his guide back to the real world.
The characters from ONE also appear as playable characters in the fighting game Eternal Fighter Zero by Twilight Frontier. EFZ is notorious for featuring Unknown (a younger, mirrored version of Nagamori) as a powerful Sub-Boss, who was toned down for her playable version, as well as creating Doppel Nanase (A Nanase clone) as an Original Generation.
The game One Kagayaku Kisetsu E provides examples of:
- Anime of the Game: ONE ~True stories~ and the all-ages OVA.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Nagamori by Kouhei.
- Sumii to less extent.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Mio Passes out relatively quickly when drinking during Akane's route, justified as she is a petite and underdeveloped 10th grader.
- Catchphrase: Nagamori says "You know" and "after all" alot, leading Kouhei at one point to call her Nagamori of the planet 'You know after all'.
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Mio tends to hang on Kouhei's sleeve, becomes a small plot point later on in her route.
- Cerebus Retcon: Misaki decides to take her revenge on Kouhei for running into her by saying "Who are you?" when he walks up to the roof, little did she know that he was in the middle of a breakdown because he actually was being forgotten by everyone, and she was the last one that would remember him.
- Crash-Into Hello:
- How Kouhei first meets Nanase, not so much Meet Cute as Meet Cruel. Also happens with Nanase regularly.
- Cute Mute: Mio.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kouhei. It becomes a major plot point late in the game.
- Disabled Love Interests: Misaki and Mio.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Kouhei speaking his mind by accident during Nanase's h-scene.Kouhei *thinking to himself*: (We look like we are connected at the hips..)Kouhei: "We look like we are connected at the hips." *Kick*Nanase: Stop it, you're embarrassing me!Kouhei: (Did I really just say that out loud?)
- Deadpan Snarker: Kouhei from the beginning right to the end.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Nanase starts this way but melts herself. Kouhei is too dense to notice.
- Deus Sex Machina: To return from the eternal world, Kouhei must have sex with a consenting girl to form a bond with them that can be used to return after a year. Subverted in some routes wherein you can choose to have a non-sexual, but nonetheless romantic relationship.
- Downer Ending: If you don't end up getting one of the girls.
- Earn Your Happy Ending
- Easy Amnesia: As you near the end of the game, everyone who once knew Kouhei slowly starts forgetting him until only the girl you chose remembers him (or alternatively, no one, if you didn't manage to get on a route) at which point he disappears.
- Emotionless Girl: Akane, getting a small smile out her really feels satisfying.
- Explicit Content: Well, it is an eroge.
- Expy: Inverted. Ayu, from Kanon, is an expy of Nagamori.
- Face Doodling: After Mio passes out from drinking too much, Shiiko draws on her face, she wakes up later on and leaves without noticing.
- Featureless Protagonist: Taken a bit too literally with Kouhei. Even during scenes when he's kissing someone, he has no eyes, nose, etc. depending on the scene.
- I Will Wait for You:
- After Kouhei disappears, but the game is told from the chosen girl's point of view until he comes back a year later.
- Akane is also waiting for her childhood friend to return.
- Gay Option: Subverted, though at times Hikami may seem like, he really just thinks of Kouhei as a close friend. Though he does (as a joke) say that if Kouhei wanted to try it with him, he wouldn't object.
- Guide Dang It!: To get on Nagamori's route you have to be a complete Jerkass to her.
- The Glomp: Mio does this to Kouhei quite a bit. One time she jumps him in the dark and he attacks her, believing she's a mugger.
- Heavy Sleeper: Kouhei every morning in the beginning.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kouhei starts a jerk, finds the gold later.
- Mythology Gag: If you look in the shopping district in ONE, you can see a sign that says rorikon (as in lolicon). Key would go on to make Kanon, which also has a "lolicon" shop in the shopping district.
- Tsundere: Nanase is a Type B, in this case the trigger is just Kouhei being present in the room, though its not difficult to understand why..
- Inner Monologue: Kouhei does this in the game.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Toward the end, everyone forgets only Kouhei; no other memories are lost, the ones involving Kouhei are appended to exclude him.
- This also happened to the friend Akane was waiting for and Hikami (where only Kouhei remembers him).
- Late for School: Kouhei and Nagamori have to sprint to class regularely to avoid being late because of Kouhei's antics when getting up. Nagamori and Kouhei running to school is also the first CG the player sees in-game.
- In Nanase's route, she takes over Nagamori's role as his personal alarm clock and the goal is to be on time within three days.
- Moment Killer: A combination of situations 3 & 4 occurs during Nanase's H-Scene, Nanase is too nervous to go through with it, so just when it seems they are about to start, she clicks on the television and blurts out "OH LOOK SUMO WRESTLING IS ON, I LOVE SUMO WRESTLING." Kouhei just sighs and tries to steer thing back on course.
- Near-Rape Experience: Kouhei plans to have Nagamori raped by an anonymous person but decides that this is a bad idea. This is the good route
- Never Gets Drunk: Akane can hold her alcohol like a pro, even though she isn't even old enough to be drinking. She goes even farther by not passing out, remaining completely level-headed, and even cleaning the entire house.
- New Transfer Student: Nanase turns out to be one, and Shiina also transfers schools if you take her route.
- Not a Morning Person: Kouhei, who needs to be woken up by Nagamori at the start and (depending on the route) an alarm clock, Nanase or trains himself to do it.
- Optional Sexual Encounter: Mio's H-scene can be skipped for those who actively dislike lolicon. Some other routes allow you to skip the H-scenes as well.
- Oblivious to Love: Kouhei during Nanase's route, he can't understand why she is disappointed when he takes her to cheap Ramen restaurant to try this new ramen on Christmas eve. He does eventually get it when she runs out crying.
- Parental Substitute:
- Kouhei's aunt takes care of him even though she is rarely home.
- Kouhei also says he feels like a parent during Shiina's route.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: Nagamori, extremely patient.
- Pinky Swear:
- Mio and Kouhei have one of these as kids.
- Nagamori and Kouhei also have one near the end of her route.
- Played for Laughs: Nanase's H-scene, while being very important to the plot is Played for Laughs as opposed to drama.
- Reflectionless Useless Eyes: Misaki.
- Ret-Gone: Kouhei's ultimate fate in the bad endings.
- Sitting on the Roof: The roof is a plot-important location for a few characters, the most prominent being Misaki.
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Spiritual Successor: ONE2: Eien no Yakusoku explains more about the Eternal World but isn't made by Tactics, has different characters, setting, etc. (It also is not translated) - Token Mini-Moe: Mio and Shiina.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Akane's waffles, Kouhei's spicy ramen, Misaki's curry and Shiina's hamburgers.
- Transfer Student Uniforms: Nanase wears her old school uniform even though she got one from the school, she just likes her old one.
- Utsuge
- Vague Age: Shiina never has her age stated. However, we know that she is younger than high school age (likely to be either thirteen or fourteen as it was one year before she graduated from middle school).
- Verbal Tic: a couple actually.
- Shiina: Myuu~ and Unyu~
- Mio: ...~
- Victorious Childhood Friend: If you take Nagamori's or Mio's routes.
- Visible Silence: Mio, all the time, justified considering she is mute.
- Wham Episode: Late in the game, Kouhei ends up remembering the full extent of his Darkand Troubled Past, and the deal he made to erase himself from the real world in order to live in a blissful eternity. The plot takes a sharp turn towards Darker and Edgier and Tear Jerker territory from here on out, with Kouhei realizing that he has a very limited time left in the real world, and the rest of the cast beginning to forget about him. In the bad endings, he's unable to stop or mitigate this turn of events, and ends up disappearing from the real world entirely.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Nanase dreams of becoming a true "maiden", so she tries to behave kind and cute, however, her act goes down thanks to Kouhei's tricks.
