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Visual Novel / Tokimeki Memorial
aka: Tokimeki Memorial 2

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Shiori and the other girls.note 

Tokimeki Memorial (ときめきメモリアル Tokimeki Memoriaru, lit. "Heartbeat Memorial") is a popular and long-running dating simulation series by Konami, with its first game released in 1994 on PC Engine. That game was a low-profile title which became a hit, thanks to massive favourable word of mouth, and the game appealing not only to the intended teenage male demographic but also the female one, thanks to the game's romantic and funny atmosphere. This popularity resulted in the game getting a remake in the form of Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You, which featured a new opening video, improved graphics and sound, and new minigames, and was released for PlayStation in October 1995, the Sega Saturn in July 1996, and with a PC version released in December 1997. The Forever With You version is commonly seen as the definitive version of the game.

Konami went on developing this game into a successful multi-media Cash-Cow Franchise. The Tokimeki Memorial series, nicknamed amongst its fans with the contraction TokiMemo, consists of 8 main games, in addition to a large number of spin-offs. The first four main games are the standard Dating Sim games (referred in this article and the Character Sheet as the "Standard Branch"). The latter three of the main games are Gender Flipped ones named Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side (the "Girl's Side Branch"), and the other main game is actually a Massively Multiplayer Online variant, Tokimeki Memorial Online. It also was adapted into several video releases: A two episode OVA based on the first game, a live action movie loosely based on the first game, and a 25 episode anime TV series, Tokimeki Memorial Only Love, based on Tokimeki Memorial Online, produced by Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Anime International Company.

In each game, you're playing as a freshman in a Japanese High School, and you'll spend your three years of school time, working on your academic and sports stats, meeting other students of the opposite gender, and wooing them, in the hope of getting the confession of love of one of them at the place of legend of your High School on Graduation Day. This place, varying depending on the game, is said to grant eternal happiness to the new couples confessing their feeling to each other on that specific day.

The games have various characters which fits a basic Trope mold for everyone's tastes: the Childhood Friend, which is usually the one the player character has an aim at at the beginning of the story (and is more or less considered the True Ending), the Mad Scientist, the Megane(ko), the Shrinking Violets, the Student Council President, or the Sempai and Kohai, there are many potential Love Interests you can try romancing!

The series explores various Japanese events and festivals, such as Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day, White Day, School Festival, Summer Festival, and more. It also depicts a highly idealistic representation of Japanese High School life, and as such is very focused on providing an atmosphere full of romantic, funny and hopeful moments. The few dramatic moments strategically sprinkled in serve as making the romance and hope shine even brighter, as in the Tokimemo verse, hurdles are ultimately overcome, and everything goes well in the end. This light-hearted good balance of narrative elements is one of the main ingredients of the series' success.

The first game was written by Koji Igarashi (a.k.a. IGA), before he took over the Castlevania series; and the Drama Series (spin-off games of the 1st game) had Hideo Kojima as one of their directors and used the Policenauts game engine. Mikio Saito (alias Metal Yuhki), the music composer of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, is the music composer, and later one of the producers of the Tokimeki Memorial series.

2017 saw a new spinoff for the franchise; like how its sister series Girl's Side has the Idol Singer-focused Tokimeki Restaurant, the prime series has Tokimeki Idol, a Rhythm Game about training up-and-coming schoolgirls into becoming the superstar idols of their dreams.

Now with its own Character Sheet.

Must not be confused with the Shōjo manga Tokimeki Tonight, nor the H-Game, Tokimeki Check-in.

Main installments (non-exhaustive):

Spin-offs (non-exhaustive):

This game provides examples of:

  • Aloof Big Brother: Rei Ijuin is seen like this by the people in Kirameki High. He turns out to be a female, though
  • The Anime of the Game: Several of them. There's the two part OVA series based on the first game by Studio Pierrot, the 25 episode Tokimeki Memorial: Only Love animenote  based on the online game, and a single OVAnote  based on and introducing Tokimeki Memorial 4.
  • Art Shift: Every game in the series has slightly, but noticeably, different art. Most obvious in the transition from 1 to 2.
    • Also between Girl's Side 1 and 2.
  • Backstory: Explored in Tokimemo 1: Tabidachi no Uta, when Shiori and Naoto talk about their past, and Tokimemo 2: Memories Ringing On with Kotoko. Also a vital part of Kaori's character in Tokimemo 2; and in the same game, used as an optional gaming feature (known as Childhood Mode), where the player meets some of the girls aside from Hikari and Kasumi during his childhood (Homura, Akane, Miyuki, Miho, and Mei) and is required to unlock certain events in the main part of the game; when used, the girls involved become additional Childhood Friends.
  • Beautiful Dreamer: Used in a few Special Events throughout the series.
  • Bifauxnen: Rei. Yuina Himoo in 1 also counts.
  • Bitch Slap:
  • Book Dumb: Yuuko in 1, Homura in 2.
  • Broken Ace: The series start out with a pure Ace, Shiori, in the first game, but the following Aces, Kaori in Tokimemo 2 and Kei and Teru in the first two Girl's Side games, are more of the Broken kind due to their poor social skills and other issues tempering their high qualities.
  • Broken Bird: Mira in 1, and Kaori in 2. Both are also Defrosting Ice Queens.
  • Bromantic Foil: Yoshio is one of the oldest examples.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Ayako and Yuina in 1.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Played straight with Elisa Dolittle Naruse in Tokimeki Memorial 4 ; averted with Patricia McGrath in Tokimeki Memorial Pocket: Sports Hen, a fully-fledged foreigner (with her nationality not defined according to Word of God, but she's clearly American-based), as well as Christopher Weatherfield of Girl's Side 2, a fully-fledged Englishman.
  • Calling Your Attacks: In Tokimemo 1, Yumi and her "Yumi Bomber". In Tokimemo 2, Homura and her "Dragon Kick" and "Kaichou Kick".
  • Cannot Spit It Out: As a Justified Trope, it's the whole point of the games: most of the Love Interests believe in the Legend of their school, and want to reserve their Love Confession for the Graduation Day, at the Legend's Tree/Bell/Slope/Church. Also explains Saki and Ayako's attitude in the first two Drama Series, ''Nijiiro no Seishun'' and ''Irodori no Love Song'''s respective endings, since those take place in around the middle of the original game's time frame, and leaded to an unlockable special mode in the third Drama Series, Tabidachi no Uta giving the real epilogue to those games.
    • It's less justified in the Girl's Side games, which mostly don't have the "confess on Graduation Day" legend and thus rely instead on the guys simply not managing to clearly express their feelings before then. The heroine of each game is also inevitably completely incapable of picking up any hints, subtle or otherwise, that the guys drop prior to Graduation Day.
  • Canon Discontinuity: With the advent of Tokimeki Memorial 4, which takes place 15 years after the events of Tokimeki Memorial 1, and thus sets the time of the 1st game to the original PC-Engine version of 1994 to 1997, all cameo appearances of Tokimemo 1 characters in the Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories games (see Expanded Universe below) have become this ( except of course the Rei Ijuin one, and maybe the Mira and Maho one as well), since the original characters are now of the same age as Kasumi Asou, and thus would never have been able to meet the Tokimemo 2 characters in their High School time.
  • Canon Name: In the Tokimeki Memorial 1 saga, while the games have no pre-existing names proposed for the protagonist (you have to enter your name yourself), the majority of the Drama CDs give him the name "Naoto Takami" (高見公人), save for a few of them which just refers him as "Ore" (I).
  • Cartoon Bomb: How the "bombs" are depicted in each game's character data report provided by your Info Man.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The Girl's Side games.
  • The Chew Toy: Tokimeki Memorial 2 gives us Miyuki. What makes her The Chew Toy? Her luck is inversely proportional to her happiness, and she's a Genki Girl with a dash of Cloud Cuckoo Lander. Even crossing the street is an ordeal for her.
    • Even her endings are the most painfully hilarious as well: in her ending in the main game, the Legendary Bell that rings when a love confession is true breaks and falls on top of her; while her ending in Tokimeki Memorial 2: Memories Ringing On shows that she gets the world's worst bad hair day as well.
  • Chick Magnet: Most of the Bishōnen characters in the series.
  • Childhood Friends - In Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Leaping School Festival, an Event in Homura Akai's route reveals that her grandfather Ringo and Hibikino High's headmaster Bakuretsuzan are childhood friends, and still are the best friends in the world despite the years and the fact they were (friendly) rivals for the heart of the girl who would become Homura's grandmother, in their High School time.
    • Homura herself with Akane Ichimonji. The two are best friends since childhood, although Akane feels from time to time the need to take a break from Homura and avoids her, as shown in an Event in Childhood Mode.
  • Class Trip: A staple of the series.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Most of the girls become this when they are in Tokimeki Status, but Yumi, Minori (in 1), Hikari, Mei (in 2), Tsugumi and Miyako (in 4) particulary stand out.
  • Clock Tower: The Legendary Bell in 2.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Yukari is a triumphant example of this trope, and Miyuki and her mother are pretty solid ones as well.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The protagonist's exam scores are based on the full range of stats, and if any stat is neglected, it results in a low test score in the associated subject. Other characters don't have this problem. Thus, the brainy, bookish characters who are bad at sports and uninterested in fashion can routinely rank first in exam scores, but no matter how high the player gets their intelligence stat, they can't come close to top ranking without putting effort into raising fitness, fashion, and the other stats as well.
  • Concept Art Gallery: The whole point of the spin-off games Tokimeki Memorial: Private Collection and Tokimeki Memorial Selection: Fujisaki Shiori.
  • Console Cameo:
    • An official artwork of Yumi Saotome of Tokimeki Memorial 1 has her playing with a Playstation 1.
    • In Tokimeki Memorial 2, there's a Playstation 1 in the main protagonist's room.
    • In Dancing Summer Vacation, Mei and Yuina are controlling their "Neo-World Conqueror Robo" with a Playstation 1 controller.
  • Continuity Nod: Konami is well known for this. The most notable being that the delinquent bancho boss that the player fights in Tokimemo 1 is the same bancho that appears in Tokimemo 2 and is given a far bigger role. Some Tokimemo 1 characters make cameos in the side-story games for Tokimemo 2. Likewise all of the main guys from the first Girl's Side game make appearances in certain background art for the second Girl's Side game.
    • The three Girl's Side games do this lightly with the Hanatsubuki family.
    • One major one is Tokimeki Memorial 4 itself, in that you return to Kirameki High School. One of the characters is a relative of Shiori and, being a last-year senior, is still wearing her iconic Sailor Fuku.
  • Crash-Into Hello: A way of meeting characters used several times in the series.
  • Culture Clash: Kotoko of Tokimemo 2 is averse to anything foreign, to the point that the smell of curry makes her sneeze.
  • Custom Uniform: The Ijuin siblings in Tokimeki Memorial 1 and 2 wear a variant of their respective schools' uniforms as a mark of their high social status as heirs of the filthy rich Ijuin Family (and Rei Ijuin's grandfather is even Kirameki High's administrator).
    • The iconic Sailor Fuku becomes one in Tokimeki Memorial 4, in that, in the years since the first game, the school has begun phasing it out, with only that final year's students being allowed to break the modern uniform code by wearing it.
  • Cute Sports Club Manager: A number of them throughout the series. Saki (who's also the Dating Sim Ur-Example), Minori (assistant of Saki, then full-fledged CSCM after Saki graduates), Tomomi (assistant of Minori), Shiori (if her starting parameters set her in the Soccer or Base-Ball Clubs), Megumi Juuichiya (of the Basket-Ball Club, in the Drama CDs), and Kaedeko (of the Base-Ball Club of Hibikino High and later, after her transfer, of Daimon High).
    • Tamami Konno in the first Girl's Side game is the Cute Sports Club Manager of the basketball team, and the Player Character of the Girl's Side games also has the opportunity to become manager of a sports club (usually the baseball club).
  • Daddy's Girl: Yukari in 1; and Sumire from 2 who's out of school helping her dad run the family circus.
  • Darker and Edgier: While it's still overall a fluffy romance game like the other games of the series, Tokimeki Memorial 3 is the first and only notable game where there's a melancholic mood, due to the death of a few secondary characters playing a big role in some story lines. This is the case with Yukiko's storyline, where you get to know the owner of the Candy Shop, an old lady Yukiko adores, who will fall ill and die, as well as in Hotaru Izumi's storyline, where she lost her boyfriend in an accident and loved him so much she can't move on and find a new love.
    • 4 takes Darker and Edgier in a new direction with the series' first Yandere character: the childhood friend, Miyako Okura.
    • The baby steps might have been given already in the second game, what's with Kaori's screwed up backstory in which she was thoroughly broken and betrayed by her "friends".
  • Dating Sim: Tokimemo is the grand-daddy of them all; its success both validated and popularized the genre.
    • It remains the undisputed best selling Dating Sim and Romance Game of all time, both in terms of individual title sale and combined in entirety as a franchise. Literally millions of copies have been sold.
  • Delinquents:
    • You can get to fight the Jerk with a Heart of Gold resident delinquents in Tokimemo 1 (and when you beat the boss, he honorably passes the mantle of gang boss to you).
    • In Tokimemo 2, the leader of the local delinquent gang is the older brother of one the winnable girls, Akane. Needless to say, you need to beat him and his Elite Mooks to get the best ending with her. As mentioned in the spoilers for the Continuity Nod trope, the bancho from Tokimemo 2 is the same one that appears in the first game.
    • Tokimemo 4 features a girl delinquent, Kai, as a winnable character.
    • The DS version of Girl's Side also has a delinquent, Jin Tendou, as a "secret" winnable character.
  • Denser and Wackier: Yuina Himoo's route in 1.
  • Earn Your Bad Ending: In Tokimemo 2, it is possible for the Protagonist, as well as his two friends, Junichiro and Takumi, to all end up as single at the end of the story, in which event it unlocks a secret ending wherein the three of them try to cope with their emotional pain and loneliness by going on a joint karaoke spree and sing their hearts out together. Since Junichiro and Takumi will successfully pursue relationships with love interests on their own if left to their own devices, the player has to very deliberately screw around with their scedules to sabotage their chances at finding love, something which takes very careful planning.
  • Expanded Universe: All the games of the series are linked to each other, the red thread between all of them being Kirameki High. Most evident in Tokimeki Memorial 2 and its Substories spinoffs, where some of the Tokimemo 1 characters not only have cameo appearances, they are related to some of the Tokimemo 2 characters in one way or another:
    • Mei is Rei's younger sister, and is friends with the like-minded Yuina (Tokimemo 2, Leaping School Festival)
    • Yuuko is Maho's main rival in the DDR Tournament (Tokimemo 2: Dancing Summer Vacation)
    • Mira and Maho both studied in Kirameki Highschool, and after graduation both are working as swimsuit models in the same photography session (Tokimemo 2: Memories Ringing On)
    • Shiori and Miharu are winnable girls in Tokimemo 2: Memories Ringing On, and both are in the same college as the player (revealed after the flashback). In fact, if the player meets Shiori, she takes him to Kirameki Highschool and shows him the Legendary Tree.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 4 returns to Kirameki High, where the uniforms are transitioning from the traditional Sailor Fuku to a blazer-type uniform. The final seniors year is even wearing the iconic uniform.
    • Rui in Tokimeki Memorial 4 attends Hibikino High. She wears the academy's iconic uniform and confesses under its Legendary Bell during the ending.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 4 Chu!, a mobile phone spin-off, takes place in Komorebi Junior High; a wordplay connection to Tokimeki Memorial Culture Version: Komorebi no Melody.
    • Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side games: Chiharu, the hidden character in TMGS1 goes to Kirameki High; Akagi, the hidden character from TMGS2 and Jin, the additional hidden character for the DS ports of TMGS1 each go to the school from the other Girl's Side game.
  • For The Cel Of It: Arguably the prime reason why Tokimeki Memorial 3 is considered the series' oddball.
  • Gamer Chick: Yuuko is a bit like this.
    • Yuuko may be somewhat of a Gamer Chick, but the real embodiment of this trope is Yumi.
    • Also Maho of Tokimeki Memorial 2, who loves to play DanceDanceRevolution. In the spinoff Tokimeki Memorial 2: Dancing Summer Vacation, Maho's main rival in the DDR Tournament is Yuuko.
    • And also Rui Nanakawa of Tokimeki Memorial 4.
  • Game Within a Game: One of Tokimeki Memorial 1 's numerous mini-games is a Twinbee Time Attack mini-game.
  • Genki Girl: Yumi and Yuuko from Tokimemo 1. Later, Hikari and Miyuki of Tokimemo 2. Yumi and Hikari even get the sunflower as their symbolic flower to cement this.
  • Goldfish Scooping Game: One of the recurring mini-games in the series, happening during a date at the Summer Festival.
  • Guide Dang It!: The requirements to get the endings of some of the girls in Tokimeki Memorial 2 are quite ridiculous. Special mention goes to the hidden characters.
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: A staple of the series. Goes as far as asking you for a nickname, which will be used by some of the characters when they're in Tokimeki State with you.
  • High-School Sweethearts: This franchise lives and breathes this trope.
  • Hot for Student: Tokimemo 2 and the Girl's Side games have at least one teacher as a winnable. Kasumi in Tokimemo 2 is also a Childhood Friend (and thus also a Victorious Childhood Friend if chosen).
  • Huge Schoolgirl: Nozomi, despite not being that tall.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: Maho's breasts grow significantly during the second year, making it possible to tell her apart from Miho from then on. Significant because they still often pull a Twin Switch.
  • Image Song: All of the games have had character image songs although they have gotten progressively less as the series went on. Tokimemo 1 and 2 being the two most popular games of the series had by far the most with all the major characters getting at least four or more songs as opposed to Tokimemo 3 (aside from Hotaru and Yukiko) and the first Girls Side game which only had two each. The second Girls Side game only had one song for each character.
    • On a sidenote the interesting thing about Tokimemo image songs is that in the case of the main games intended for the guys is that virtually all the characters had songs (including the male characters such as Yoshio from Tokimemo 1 who even had his own vocal CD and Takumi and Junichirou from Tokimemo 2). In contrast this isn't the case for the Girls Side games. All of the guys do get songs but sadly none of the girls ever have any to date — they have been Demoted To Extras.
  • In Name Only: The 1997 film. As incredible as it sounds, it still managed to get an Award of the Japanese Academy, with Yoshinori Okada winning the 1998 Newcomer of the Year award.
  • Intimate Lotion Application: Mira's Summer Date involves going on a beach date where she flirts with the Player Character by asking him to rub suntan oil on her back, with her boldly undoing her top so he can touch "cover every spot", which leaves the Player Character stammering. The scene gets a unique CG picture of her lying on her stomach while exposing her Toplessness from the Back.
  • Joshikousei
  • Just Friends: In the Girl's Side games, a heroine pursuing more than one guy can eventually tell one of them she just wants to be friends. This activates "Best Friends" mode, in which they go out on platonic dates and the friend-zoned guy gives the heroine relationship advice while still clearly in love with her himself. It's up to the player whether the she sticks with her first choice or runs to the arms of her best friend at the last minute.
    • In Girl's Side 3, the heroine can additionally become close friends with certain pairs of guys in a new "3P Mode". The player can choose to have her pick one over the other, or go all the way to graduation without committing to either.
  • Karaoke Box: One of the series' mainstay date locations. One of the Bad Endings of Tokimeki Memorial 2 also takes place there, as the player and his two friends are venting their frustration of not getting a girlfriend after their 3 years of High School, by singing a karaoke.
  • Kawaiiko: Yumi. Ironically, she hates being called cute.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Several characters in the series : Megumi in 1, Miyuki and Kaori in 2, Kei in Girl's Side 1, and Wakaouji in Girl's Side 2.
  • Knowledge Broker: Most games have an "Info Man", one of your best friends who specialize in searching info about the other characters and can provide you their phones, personal data, and current impression of you, making him vital in your quest. Those Info Men are: Yoshio, in Tokimemo 1, Takumi in Tokimemo 2, and Miyako in Tokimemo 4, your little brother Tsukushi in Girl's Side 1, next-door neighbor Yuu in Girl's Side 2, and your female friend Miyo in Girl's Side 3.
  • Large Ham: Bakuretsuzan, the school's headmaster in Tokimeki Memorial 2, is the king of this trope, and can put to shame a lot of the Large Hams mentioned in the trope's entry. He even has an awesome Incoming Ham moment, complete with flaming background and his name written on it.
    • Yoshio in Tokimeki Memorial 1 is also a good contender for this trope.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Late merchandise in the franchise don't make much a secret that in Tokimemo 1, Rei Ijuin is actually a girl, or that Miho has a twin sister, Maho, in Tokimemo 2 or even that Ookura Miyako is not only dateable in Tokimeki Memorial 4 but also that she will turn Yandere during her route.
  • Late for School: Yuuko in 1 is a master at this. This is also the way you meet Homura in 2, and what kickstarts Kasumi's storyline in Memories Ringing On (but certainly not for humourous purposes in the last case).
  • Leitmotif: Every single major character to appear in all the main games have a theme song. This is played with even more for Tokimemo 2 in that ALL of the characters from that game that had leitmotifs also have an Image Song set to their corresponding leitmotif.
    • The latter of which also applies to Tokimemo 1. Shiori has an Image Song based on her leitmotif as do Nozomi and Yuko to some extent.
    • In Tokimeki Memorial 2, the Good Ending's theme, "Anata ni Aete", is the game 's Leitmotif, having a lot of variations used depending on the scene's mood: an anxiety-filled scene will get a fast-paced, eerie version; a sad scene will have a slow, heartwrenching rendition; a happy-go-lucky scene will get an upbeat and cheerful version; a scene where a character will overcome her hurdles will get a heroic-cheerful rendition; and so on.
  • Lethal Chef: The standard branch of the series likes to explore the cooking skills of the Kohai characters. Both Yumi in 1 and Mei in 2 are horrible chefs providing hilarious moments, while Haruna in 4 is actually the reverse, due to working at a sweets shop.
    • However, Yumi's scenario in Tabidachi no Uta revolves around helping her improving her cooking skills so she can give her brother Yoshio a delicious meal, and actually succeeds in doing so in the end.
    • Also, during the club camping trip in Tokimemo 1, sometimes the dinner prepared by whoever girl you are with in the club (even Saki!) gets prepared wrong, giving everyone a bad case of food poisoning. Said girl apologizes profusely after that.
    • In Tokimemo 4, the girls can sometimes be Lethal Chefs on purpose. Miyako is a fairly good example of this, but Tsugumi probably trumps her - if she likes you, and you go on a date with another girl and end up at her parents' cafe, she gets angry. You wouldn't like the drinks she serves up when she's angry.
  • Lighter and Softer: Than most of Konami's other work.
  • Love Triangle: Tokimeki Memorial 2 have one between the protagonist, Hikari and Kotoko if you choose to chase after Kotoko all while having excellent relationship with Hikari. It evolves into Love Dodecahedron in Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Memories Ringing On when Junichiro, who's in love with Hikari, joins the mess and turn the already plentiful I Want My Beloved to Be Happy moments to Toradora! levels.
    • The Girl's Side branch also introduces female friends who'll turn into rivals if you pursue their guy. It even becomes a gameplay mechanic in GS3, with the player able to turn certain pairs of male buddies into rivals if she gets them both to a high enough affection (fittingly, this is known as "Pride VS Pride Mode").
  • Luminescent Blush: The sign that a girl is seriously infatuated with you. It's also called "Blushing Stage" in the Western fandom (the official appellation being the "Tokimeki State", aka "Heartbeat State").
  • Mad Scientist: Yuina Himoo of 1 is one in training, and Mei Ijuin of 2 is her disciple in the Dancing Summer Vacation Substories. Fans and game creators agree to say that the unholy alliance of the Ijuin Family's wealth and power and Yuina's scientific knowlegde and amibition, should it occur, would be a sight to both behold and fear.
  • Match-Three Game: Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama 1 and 2, and Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Tokkae Dama, the themed Spin Offs of the Taisen Puzzle Dama and Taisen Tokkae Dama series.
  • Mini-Game: A staple of the series. In Tokimeki Memorial 1 and 2 the computer club makes games, including Force Gear and Twinbee Returns. Both of these games are available as seperate games by inputting a secret code in the PC Engine Mini version's menu. note 
  • The Mourning After / Second Love: The backstory and the driving force of Hotaru Izumi's scenario, in Tokimeki Memorial 3: she lost her boyfriend in an accident, and can't manage to turn the page page and find a new love in her life. She's a Nintendo Hard character because of this, and switches from the first trope to the second if you manage to heal the wounds of her heart and get her to love you.
  • New Game Plus: Tokimeki Memorial 4 uses this trope, as each special ablity you unlocked in a playthrough will be automatically unlocked in the next.
  • Nintendo Hard: Shiori is the hardest girl to win in the original game, as well as one of the hardest in the entire series (along with Hotaru Izumi of Tokimeki Memorial 3). She is the easiest girl to develop love points for though, even if she doesn't already start with higher points than the other girls. Unfortunately, you gotta make her love you AND be good enough for her.
  • No Fair Cheating: Try to use a rapid-fire controller in Tokimeki Memorial 2 's 100-meters dash mini-game at the Sports Festival, and you'll get disqualified.
  • No Going Steady: In the first game, if you don't make sure to keep all the girls happy and just focus on one girl, the other girls will badmouth you to your chosen love and you'll lose all of them.
  • Novelization: A few of them throughout the series.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 1 has a series of 6 novels, focusing on all characters at the average rate of 2 characters per book.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 2 has two novels, "Kimi no Ushiro Sugata" and "Anata o Shinjiteru", which feature Hikari and Kaori as their respective heroines.
    • Tokimeki Memorial 3 has two novels, the heroines of those novels being Yukiko in the first, and Kazumi in the second.
    • Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1 has two novels.
  • Oddball in the Series: Tokimeki Idol is shaping up to be one, given that it's the only one that carries the BEMANI label.
  • One-Book Author: Yumi Saotome is the only role her voice actress Yoshiki Kurin ever voiced.
  • One Game for the Price of Two: The defining trope behind Tokimeki Memorial Pocket: Sports Hen and Tokimeki Memorial Pocket: Culture Hen, the Game Boy adaptations of Tokimeki Memorial 1. The main cast, as well as the 3 new characters exclusive to the GB games, are split in half between each game. Wanted to have, for example, Saki, Mio, Patricia and Kyoko in the same game ? Too bad, Mio and Kyoko are Culture Hen exclusive characters, while Saki and Patricia are Sports Hen exclusive !
  • The Ojou: Yukari Koshiki
  • Papa Wolf: Yukari's father in Tokimeki Memorial 1, see Daddy's Girl above. He's so overprotective, he's actually Yukari's special attack in Battle mode: she invokes him, and he proceeds to slice the enemies with his katana, for what is arguably the most damaging in the game ! Also, Yukari's ending mention that the main character is a bit afraid and ill at ease with her father due to his overprotectiveness of her daughter.
    • Also, Kai Ryukoji's father in Tokimemo 4, who is an Expy of Yukari's father.
  • Parental Abandonment: Yuuko's parents are always working and don't pay lots of attention to her.
  • Parental Substitute: Mira has several younger siblings, so she can't really join clubs.
  • The Peeping Tom: If you're a member of a club, you'll have an option to go peep at the bathrooms during the summer's training camp. You'll have to choose among three windows, which randomly grant you safe-for-work CGs of cute girls or ugly macho men bathing. Peeping has a hefty price though: All the girls you know will have a severe drop in affection towards you, particularly those in the same club as yours, if you peeped at girls; and if you watched at men, your Stress parameter sharply goes up.
  • Permanently Missable Content: The Tokimeki Memorial series don't make much use of this trope, unlike its Spiritual Successor Mitsumete Knight, but Tokimeki Memorial 2 has the case of Kaori, if you can't manage to have a very high love gauge by the end of the 2nd year, and Kaedeko if you don't build a solid relationship with her before she transfers to Hokkaido.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: The treatment given to Patricia Mc Grath and Elisa Dolittle Naruse.
  • Please Get Off Me: One CG has Kei notice some fans of his while on a date with the heroine, so he quickly hides behind some bushes with her. He's practically lying on top of her, and the heroine tries to tell him to move, but Kei is too focused on not being noticed by the fans to realize what's going on. When he does, quite some blushing occurs.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: The twins Miho and Maho of Tokimeki Memorial 2; the first is a sweet day-dreaming ingenue, the second a mischevious and street-wise girl.
  • Prejudice Aesop: Elisa Dolittle Naruse's story has the message that the bigotry and xenophobia are awful and prevalent in Japan. Elisa herself is a victim of prejudice because she's half-British and very Western-looking.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: The Tokimeki Memorial series makes use of this trope from time to time. An example can be seen in Tokimeki Memorial Selection: Fujisaki Shiori, where Vivaldi's famous ''Four Seasons: Autumn'' can be heard in the Portrait Collection
  • Rule of Romantic / Funny / Drama: The winning combo of the series, diluted in around 40% romance, 40% funny, and 20% drama. The aptly named Drama Series get the drama level upped slightly to good effect. However, any game which went overboard in upping the drama level got Wangst label (Memories Ringing On), or Scrappy label altogether (Tokimeki Memorial 3) by fans.
  • Sailor Fuku: Strangely not a staple of the series, the first game being the only one using them (the others using Blazer-type uniforms). Tokimeki Memorial 4 suffered a case of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! from some fans when Kirameki High changed its iconic Sailor Fuku to a Blazer; the complain dried down quickly thanks to the school's gradual change of its uniform policy.
  • Secret Character: A staple of the series, each game has at least 2 of them, sometimes 3.
  • Shipper on Deck: By the end of the Motto! Tokimeki Memorial Radio Drama series, basically every main character actively encourage Shiori and Naoto to pair up. And they do..
    • This is parodied in a live seiyuu recording that the seiyuu did for the Fantastic Christmas party event where Naoto is looking for Shiori and all the other characters try to help him find her.
  • Shout-Out: Tons of them throughout the series. There are:
  • Show Within A Game: Homura of Tokimeki Memorial 2 is a huge fan of the in-game "Go-Driller" anime which itself is an obvious Shout-Out to the popular 70's anime Getter Robo. In fact in Leaping School Festival, the player goes with Homura to watch the movie of "Go-Driller", and Konami even animated some scenes of it in Memories Ringing On, making the homage to Getter Robo even more obvious.
  • Shrinking Violet: Megumi, Miharu and Mio in 1, Kaedeko in 2, Haruna in 4.
  • Spell My Name With An S: Mostly averted, the creators going great lenghts in giving official Romaji spellings for all characters, and being consistent with them. However, because they systematically use the Kunrei-Shiki method of romanization in their works, Rei and Mei's family name, despite being established as "Ijuin", is sometimes spelled "Ijuuin" or "Ijyuin" by fans. There's also a problem with Yuko, who's named "Yuuko" by some fans, because when reading her name's Kanji, that gives "Yuuko". However, the official and consistent spelling is "Yuko".
  • Spiritual Successor: The Tokimeki Memorial series got three of them during its 15 years run: Mitsumete Knight in 1997, the ancestor of the Girl's Side series Meine Liebe in 2001, and the controversial Love Plus in 2009.
    • Shira Oka: Second Chances, a game that strives to be as complex as the Tokimeki Memorial series, can be considered an unofficial spiritual successor. (It follows in the footsteps of the independent game Summer Session, which is less intricate, but which was commercially released in English in mid-2008.)
  • Student Council President: Homura of Tokimemo 2 is made one by the school headmaster against her will, supposedly to make her a better student; Mei becomes the next one after Homura graduates.
    • In Tokimeki Memorial 4, Yuu Satsuki is Kirameki High's Student Council President, and Maki Hoshikawa becomes the next one after Yuu graduates.
    • In Girl's Side 2, secret character Kazuyuki Akagi is the Student Council President of Habataki High. Itaru Hikami aspires to being Student Council President of Hanegasaki High, but his overzealous strictness turns his classmates off in the first year. He's elected in the second year, if the heroine has had enough of a good influence on him.
    • Konno Tamao in Girl's Side 3 is the Student Council President until he graduates in your second year.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality:
    • Yuina, if you get her. Rei and Mira might be like this, too.
    • Rhythmy in Tokimemo 4 personifies this trope. Though it's largely because she has ultra sensitive hearing, and interacting with people actually gives her headaches. Once you've broken through the ice, she's total putty in your hands.
  • Supreme Chef: Saki. She even states that she'll go to a culinary institute instead of university, and one of her events involves her sharing her delicious homemade lunch with you.
    • Also Akane of Tokimemo 2, which is mainly her part time job she needs to pay for school.
    • Kaori of Tokimemo 2 is surprisingly a good chef too, revealed after you raise her close enough to blushing state and then you get sick from too much stress, she pays you a visit with a basket full of homemade goodies
    • Tokimemo 4 has at least two characters who deserve consideration for this trope - Tsugumi, whose parents run a cafe, ends up pretty close to this, and Hidden Character Haruna is pretty much defined by this trope.
    • In the Girl's Side games, Madoka Kijyo in GS1 and Teru Saeki in GS2 both prove to be excellent cooks, Kijyo because he lives on his own and has gotten used to cooking for himself, Teru because he works at a cafe. Teru gives the heroine homemade cookies and potentially a whole cake for White Day if he likes her enough.
    • The Girl's Side heroines can also display skills in this direction. Valentine's Day always provides an opportunity to make delicious homemade chocolate, and the main feature of the club summer camp is the opportunity to take a turn cooking dinner, with the results based on the level of the protagonist's Social stat: with high enough Social, she can end up cooking things like saag mutton, pu pad pong curry (a rich curry made with crab), and ossobuco (a veal dish), to the great delight of whoever is attending camp with her.
  • Tears of Joy:
    • Happens with several characters througout the series, when their love confession get reciprocated by the protagonist. Most notable examples are all heroines of the four games of the Standard Branch of the series.
  • Theme Twin Naming: Miho and Maho.
  • This Is a Drill: As a mecha anime fan, and particulary of the "Go-Driller" show, Homura of Tokimeki Memorial 2 loves to wield these. There's even a joke illustration◊ by the game's illustrator in the Tokimeki Memorial 2 Illustrations book, where she tries to give a pissed off Revolver Ocelot a drill to replace his severed arm, and Akane trying to restrain her.
  • Tomboy: Homura of Tokimemo 2, so much that she rarely wears girls' clothes. Plus she combines that with being an Otaku Surrogate (her idea of a date is watching a mecha anime film at the movies).
  • Truth in Television: A video game version. The reason only a handful of characters after the first game, use a Sailor Fuku is the very real fact that Japan was phasing it out. It's taken to its logical extreme in the fourth game, where you return to the school of the first game and almost everyone is wearing modern-style uniforms.
  • Tsundere: Kotoko of Tokimeki Memorial 2 is a shining case of Type A, complete with cold shoulder, taunts and Bitch Slaps. Same for Mei in the same game, but in a cute type instead of a cold one like Kotoko, and minus the slapping.
    • In Tokimemo 4, Tsugumi is a Type B, although her tsun-ness is usually triggered either by jealousy or the feeling that Maki is under threat. There's actually a game effect, though - "Tsun" is her special ability and lowers the protagonist's morale.
    • Teru of Girl's Side 2 is polite to everyone except the heroine, and though he mellows some as he falls for her, he's quick to get angry and storm off when things get really romantic.
      • He also constantly chops her head throughout the game.
  • Twin Switch: Tokimeki Memorial 2 has Miho and Maho, identical twins who love to play switcheroo to fool everyone, including the player. The player "officially" meets Miho since she studies in the same school (Maho studies in Tokimemo 1's Kirameki Highschool), but during dates, she may send her sister in her place. Figuring out who is who is part of winning either, as they have different tastes. Maho is the more voluptuous one, not to mention the more Tsundere of the two. What's more, anyone who stumbles on their game of switcheroo will suffer the wrath of Maho's golf club. In Tokimeki Memorial 4, Rui has a habit of switching places with her brother, Tadashi. This leads to confusion.
  • Umbrella of Togetherness: Used as a special event to improve relationships with some girls when they forget their umbrellas on a rainy day, notably Shiori and Megumi in the first game.
  • Unwanted Harem: The more winnable girls are unlocked during a playthrough, the more difficult it becomes to succeed because of the increased amount of interference (i.e. the infamous Tokimeki Bomb from being neglected). It's considered an easier strategy to only unlock the girls you need to win, since some targets require another for availability, rather than unveil the entire lineup all at once.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend / Unlucky Childhood Friend: Nearly all Tokimeki Memorial games have a childhood friend, usually as the main heroine / hero. Since this is a Dating Sim series, those characters will become one or the other versions depending on your choices, and your skills as most of them are Nintendo Hard characters:
  • Video Arcade: One of the series' staple date locations.
  • Westminster Chimes: A staple of the series.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Used from Tokimeki Memorial 2 and on.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Yuina hates koalas. And they hate her, too.
    • And more famous than that, Ayako and her fear of water. Also, Nozomi and her fear of lightning.
    • Suzuka Kazuma of Girl's Side has a huge fear of large cats and freaks out during a date (complete with a funny CG).
  • Woman Scorned: In Tokimemo 1, if you have too many girls after you, they'll easily get jealous and use a "bomb" against you out of envy. It's less pronounced in games 2 and 3, but just as prominent with the boys in the Girls Side games.
  • World Tree: The Legendary Tree in 1 and 4.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Yumi, being a wrestling fan, has her own Finishing Move (which she refined by using it against her brother and the protagonist as well in Nijiiro no Seishun, the "Yumi Bomber", a lariat/grappling-like move.
  • Yandere: Played straight with Miyako Okura. There's even some ominous foreshadowing with elements from Silent Hill, Konami's popular horror series. This unexpected psycho love made her an instant favorite of 2chan posters.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Tokimeki Memorial 4 plays with this trope by making its Yamato Nadeshiko a full-blood foreigner who has spent her entire life in Japan.

Alternative Title(s): Tokimeki Memorial 4, Tokimeki Memorial 2, Tokimeki Memorial 3

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