Saku Saku: Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossoms (Konami)

Saku Saku: Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossoms is a Visual Novel that focuses on a couple of unique aspects and has some nice story plots pending on what love interest you decide to go with. In this Visual Novel, you plan as Yuma a second-year student in high school that has had a rough past. A year after he was born his sister was born, their mother sadly passed soon after the birth of his sister Konami. Yuma's and Konami's father who was a teacher would later marry a younger woman who was once one of his students. Several years later however their father would also pass due to an illness. 

Prior to his passing, there was an accident in which Yuma was hit by a car and in all right should have died but due to a spiritual event (a Soul Reaper who didn't want to reap souls) sacrifice her spirit in order to give him another chance at life. She told him to make everyone smile and that was what he decided to do. This event of course left him with a bit of a warped perspective on life. Yuma now spends his time helping others and helping them through different things, including love trouble. Though he himself finds himself not really the kind of person to fall in love.

In this Visual Novel, there are a total of 5 girls you can romance: Mio the Childhood Friend, Anna the Student Council President, Yuri the Chairwoman of the PMC, Konami the biological sister, and then later you can unlock Tina the Soul Reaper/ Love Fairy. This Visual Novel also has two versions, the normal one that anyone can play for the most part, and the Adult 18+ version in which shows H-Scenes. The Standard Version can be purchased on Steam, sadly Steam does not offer the Adult Patch like other games for some reason. You can get the Adult Version off the Denpasoft Online Store.

So let's get this party started by saying that now you know the basics of this Visual Novel it's time to discuss the first path I decided to go down. That path is one that I am sure you already know but if you don't then the first girl's route I decided to go down was none other than Konami the Blood-related Sister.

Konami is a first-year student at the same High School that Yuma goes to. She is also a childhood friend to Mio, she's smart, cute, and very down to earth. She is quiet and tends to be like her brother when it comes to showing emotions. She is a Shogi player as well and has Yuma play her every night after dinner. Their father used to play Shogi and got her into it, she was never able to beat her father, and currently, she's not been able to beat her brother either. 

Konami teases Yuma often and he, of course, gets her back and the back and forth is just part of how they do things. They are seen to be very close to one another and the picture-perfect version of siblings. As time goes on and certain choices lead to Konami having to make a deal with Anna of the Student Council. Due to an unforeseen event, the Student Council and PMC are low on members and so Anna has decided to enlist the help of some others. She launches a plan to get Yuma to join the Student Council and to do so she makes Konami a proposal. Konami was wanting to make a Shogi Club and Anna said she'd sign off on it if Konami beat her in a game of Shogi. If Konami lost she would still get her Shogi Club but it would be in cooperation with the Student Council meaning that Anna would be club President of the Shogi Club as well.

As you can imagine Konami lost, later Anna would get Yuri to join as well as integrating the PMC with the Council. With all this happening she then pulls some strings to get Yuma out of his other spot working in the school infirmary, causing him to finally join the Student Council. It is during his time in the Student Council that he eventually meets a young girl on the side of the road inside a box next to his home. Later he would find out that she is a Soul Reaper even though she says she's a Love Fairy. Her name Tina is a young-looking girl with a plushy she keeps on her head that is actually her familiar. She tells Yuma she is going to help him find love and smile in actual happiness.

 Over time Tina figures out that Konami has feelings other than that of being siblings and she begins to make plans to make Konami confront them. Tina takes Yuma and picks up a horror movie and while Yuma finds it interesting his sister isn't much on them but she wanted to spend time with him so she bared it. Because of this, she asks Yuma to let her sleep in his bed, to which he does. This event among others leads Konami to finally coming to terms with her feelings. Konami realizes that she loves Yuma for more than just her brother and she decides to confess to him.

One night while playing Shogi she confesses her feelings for him, that she loves him more than just as siblings. He of course rejects her confession and tells her that he's not going to hold it against her or anything but that because of them being siblings they couldn't be together. Despite this event, however, Tina was not deterred and pushed Konami to do more things to try and persuade Yuma to fall in love with her. This leads to a few...sexually-oriented incidents that push the boundaries of their sibling status. These events plus their continued relations leads to Yuma realizing that he has strong feelings for Konami as well. 

In no time their relationship goes just being siblings to being boyfriend and girlfriend but in the shadows as they can't openly show their feelings for one another. Despite their best efforts though the nurse of the infirmary which is also a close friend of Yuma's mother and a former student of his father figures it out and speaks to Konami about it. She tells Konami to end it and that if she does then she'll forget that it happened. Later Anna sees Yuma and Konami kissing and decides to make Konami jealous to push to see if they could make it or not.

As their relationship grows and they begin to think that they need to let their mother know...things go downhill. While being a bit loving to one another their mother walks in and catches them messing.

Konami and Yuma knew they would have to tell her eventually however she found out before they could tell her themselves. When confronted with the fact that Yuma and Konami were having incestual relations their mother brokedown blaming herself for not providing them with the home environment to help them to grow up better. Yuma and Konami tell her that it wasn't her fault.

This is where the discussion gets a little deep in discussing how they can't have a normal life if they continue their relationship. They can't legally get married, having children would have their own possible issues, that their friends and others in society would never accept them and they would eventually become socially removed. She asks Yuma and Konami to break up and gives them a time limit to decide if they want to continue their relationship.

It is during this time that Yuma and Konami decide to come clean with their friends. One day they meet everyone in the Student Council room and explains the situation to the group. Everyone has different thoughts, but because of the rule that no one in the Council is supposed to be in a relationship, they are breaking the rules. So when it appears that no one will accept them they hand in their resignation letters. Anna says the only way she will accept them is if Konami can beat her in a game of Shogi. Konami finally beats Anna and after this defeat, she rips up the letters and then removes the rule about not having relationships. 

Soon all of them accept their relationship with one another, however, when they tell their mother she makes a decision. One child will remain there and continue school, the other will go to another school and move out and live on their own, after three years if their feelings still haven't changed...she will accept it.

 Three years pass and finally Konami who chooses to leave the house in the hopes of becoming more independent finally returns home. She has just graduated High School and has decided it's time to move back home. Yuma who had graduated a year sooner is working odd jobs and working towards getting money to support themselves. 

Upon her return, they again confirm they have no desire to break up and will continue to live with one another as boyfriend and girlfriend even if the world is against them.

Konami's route discusses a lot of things dealing with relationships, social issues, social perspective, and morality. Personally, I have little in the way of morality, I find that more often than not 'morality' is a construct of society in a manner to establish control by creating a form of 'mob rule'. Sadly I am but one person and many do not see it that way. However, that said this Visual Novel is visually appealing, the music is good, and the H-Scenes are pretty good as well. I recommend it to anyone willing to take a chance. Though if you want the Adult version remember to get it from Denpasoft.