Sakura Sakimashita - This touches topics that are quite serious. Miu is the cutest!

Sakura Sakimashita is a science fiction/drama visual novel developed by SORAHANE and released in 2012. The story is set in the year 2238, where, due to a new technology developed, most humans can now choose not to age and live practically forever. It is a utopian perfect world where no one dies of old age.

The protagonist, Shinjou Tsubasa, prepares for another school year together with his childhood friend, Haruno Tsubame, as he struggles to find something to do after his swimming club was disbanded. Together, they join the "Life Club," a very weird club where they try to find "life energy," but really just waste time at the whim of the even weirder club leader, Shirataka Sumire.

Everything seems idyllic in this world until, one fateful day, there is a TV broadcast of a meteor on a collision course with Earth with little chance to stop it before impact. Their "eternal life" all of a sudden becomes quite limited, and everyone has to start facing the prospect of dying.

The world scrambles to try and stop the meteor through various means (usually narrated through the TV broadcasts). These include shooting it down with an advanced defense system or creating an ark of selected people in a spaceship to let humanity survive and thrive on another planet. Both of these approaches are touched upon in some of the routes by the characters.

As I mentioned in the title, the story touches on many more serious topics about what to do with a relatively limited amount of time remaining on Earth. What is the purpose of life? What should you do with the little time you have left? Each heroine faces the impending doom in a different way, and as you go through the routes, you get to know more facets of the entire situation.

The visual novel enforces a specific playing order regarding which route you can read. This is to maximize the discovery of new hints about the whole setting in a sort of "mystery" approach. There is a lot kept under wraps that does not get explored immediately, and you only get to know it later as the routes are explored. Some of the endings of the routes are explained better in subsequent routes too. I say this because I remember my face at the end of the Miyu route; I was completely shocked.

The heroines of this visual novel are:

Haruno Tsubame

The childhood friend of Tsubasa and immortal just like him. She is energetic, altruistic, and extremely attached to him to the point of being somewhat jealous of the interest of other girls. She works part-time and is able to drive a car. She seems to be fine at first when the news about the meteor breaks out.

Karasuma Miyako

A fellow club member and close friend of Tsubame. She is also immortal and loves going around on her motorbike. She gets selected by the government as an individual worth preserving, allowing her to enter the "spaceship" approach to survive the meteor. She is unsure whether to accept the invitation.

Minato Miu

A fellow club member and part-timer at an eroge shop. She looks a lot younger than she is, even though she is not immortal like the others, as she has a condition that prevents her from getting the needed treatment. She has a sharp tongue and deep otaku knowledge.

Shirataka Sumire

The club president of the "Life Club" and an absolute weirdo who causes most of the events within the club. She is energetic and very funny. She loves to tease her fellow club members, but she genuinely cares about them and tries to make them realize the value of life through her activities. She is very important to the main plot.

Sakura

A mysterious girl who appears to Tsubasa in various scenes near a huge Sakura tree. She is antisocial and doesn't talk much, but she seems to know something about the whole meteor situation. She leaves before the meteor arrives in most of the routes. She is key to learning more about what is happening.

Karasuma Kanade

A side heroine and the little sister of Miyako. She falls in love with the protagonist after seeing him interact with her older sister, but she is way too shy to approach him. She opens up as the story goes on, and she even gets her own route despite being a minor character overall.

Tenshitsukinuke Serika

A side heroine who is the current student council president at the school that everyone attends. She is often seen arguing with Sumire because of her weird activities that create chaos in the school. She is proud and serious, even if she has her own share of secrets.

I am torn when it comes to choosing my favorite character in this series. While Miu has the strongest overall route in terms of story, with touching elements that really made me reflect on life, I still think Serika is the most well-rounded character despite being a side heroine to the main plot.

I tried to stay away from spoilers as much as possible in this review, but there are so many twists and turns that you won't get bored anytime soon. Don't be fooled by the aura of "this is a normal romcom" in the first few scenes; there is so much beneath the surface that you only get to see after the introductions.

I can really recommend Sakura Sakimashita if you are looking for something different in the visual novel world. While very long (it took me 47 hours to complete), it has a compelling narrative and interesting character development.