Kirakira (visual novel)

Kira☆Kira (キラ☆キラ) is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Overdrive and first released playable on a Microsoft Windows PC on November 27, 2007. An official English translation by MangaGamer was released in June 2009 only available via downloading on MangaGamer's website. A spin-off game called Kirakira Curtain Call was released by Overdrive for the PC in August 2008. A PlayStation 2 version published by PrincessSoft was released on February 26, 2009. A version of the game with all H-scenes removed was ported to the iPhone and iPod touch by M-Trix Inc. and was released on the App Store on November 20, 2009.

Plot
The protagonists of Kirakira, Shikanosuke, Kirari, Sarina and Chie are the members of the second literary club (第二文芸部) at the Christian school Ohbi Gakuen. The club was set to be closed in next March so they try to set up a band they call the Second Literary Club Band (第二文芸部バンド) to save the club. Their performance at the subsequent school festival succeeds with flying colors. That performance was put on the Internet where one of the live houses in Nagoya offered the band to put on a performance in Nagoya. They honestly want to disband after the performance at the school festival because they had to study for entrance exams or look for jobs, but they were convinced to go on a live tour by Yagihara, the vocalist of Star Generation. Shikanosuke's band d2b begins its live tour across Japan in an old van.

d2b band

 * Shikanosuke Maejima (前島 鹿之助)
 * Shikanosuke is the protagonist of Kirakira. He used to be in the tennis club with his best friend, Murakami. In the beginning of the story, he gets dumped by his girlfriend and quits the tennis club due to health problems. In the d2b (second literature club) band, he joins as Shikako Maejima, a red-headed girl with hearing problems. This way they can try to become an all girl's band. He plays bass guitar in the band.


 * Kirari Shiino (椎野 きらり)
 * Kirari is the girl who Shikanosuke meets at a sake bar where he works as a part time worker. Since her house is very poor, she works many jobs to help her family. She is a cheerful character who initially wants to play drums in the band, but is persuaded by Chie to become the vocalist. She is the band's vocalist and second guitarist.


 * Sarina Kashiwara (樫原 紗理奈)
 * Sarina was born into a bourgeoisie family, is well mannered and very lady-like but she sometimes shows her stubbornness. She always rides a Rolls-Royce Phantom to school from her house. She does not have many friends at school, but she and Kirari are best friends. She is the band's lead guitarist.


 * Chie Isurugi (石動 千絵)
 * Chie is Shikanosuke's childhood friend who is one year older than him. For personal reasons, she was held back one grade so she is in same grade with Shikanosuke, Kirari, and Sarina. The leader of d2b, she seems to be a strict and honest person but also admonishes herself and is also carefree and cowardly. She is the drummer of the band, and before she received a drumset from Kenta, she practiced with a bucket, silver tub and magazines.

Supporting characters

 * Kenta Tonoya (殿谷 健太)
 * Kenta is Shikanosuke's classmate. He is the guitarist of the well-known band Star Generation in Kirakira, and also coaches d2b. He tends to be frank and cold, but he is passionate when he is talking about music. Chie gave him the nickname "Tonoyan".


 * Murakami (村上)
 * Murakami is Shikanosuke's friend and his former partner when he played doubles in the tennis club. He is big and macho but easily gets sentimental. His family owns the alcohol business Murakami Liquor, and he is always seen wearing Murakami Liquor T-shirts. He likes to join in on Go games, and is also in the Go club. While he could not join d2b, he teaches the d2b members about what punk rock is. In Curtain Call, he forms Happy Cycle Mania and is the guitarist.


 * Yagihara (八木原)
 * Yagihara is the leader and main vocalist of Star Generation. He discovered d2b's ability and supports them.


 * Miyuki & Mai (美雪&舞)
 * Miyuki and Mai are members of the second literary club who purposely don't specify who is who so nobody can tell them apart. When Shinosuke asks who is who, they call him a pervert. They make d2b's band uniforms.


 * Sister Yoshizawa (吉沢)
 * Sister Yoshizawa and is a teacher of at Ohbi Gakuen.


 * Yuko Maejima (前島 祐子)
 * Yuko is the younger sister of Shikanosuke. She follows her brother's footsteps and becomes the bassist of d2b in Curtain Call.


 * Masatsugu Kashiwara (樫原 正次)
 * Masatsugu is Sarina's grandfather and also CEO/COO of Kashiwara holdings. He is very stern and he thinks it is not good that Sarina joins the d2b band.


 * Saiki (斎木)
 * Saiki is a maid in the Kashiwara household. She is compliant to Masatsugu.


 * Akira Yashiro (屋代 彰)
 * Akira is the vocalist of the Visual kei band Panic in Nagoya. He blames Shikanosuke for his cross-dressing. Akira later becomes a guitarist for Happy Cycle Mania.


 * Mika (美佳)
 * Mika is Akira's girlfriend who is also living with him.


 * Tomo Kougure (古暮 智)
 * Tomo is the proxy booking manager at Livehouse in Osaka.


 * Satoh (佐藤)
 * Satoh is some sort of yakuza that Kirari meets in Osaka, but he kindly gives a Gibson Les Paul Jr. to her. Kirari gives him the nickname "Satocchi".

Development
Kirakira is the second visual novel production by Overdrive after Edelweiss. The game's producer was Hiroshi "Bamboo" Takeuchi. The scenario was written by Renya Setoguchi, and this was the final work with him as a writer. The character design and art direction was headed by Shinji Katakura who returned after his work on Edelweiss. The music was produced by the Japanese band Milktub which has Hiroshi Takeuchi as the main vocalist.

Internet radio show
An Internet radio show entitled Radio d2b was produced by Onsen and was first released as a pre-broadcast in December 2007. The main broadcasting period of the show was between January and June 2008. The program was hosted by Hiroshi Takeuchi, UR@N and Kyoichi Miyazaki. A second season began in November 2008 hosted by Takeuchi, Tomoko Nakamura (voice of Kirari Shino), Megumi Kojima (voice of Sarina Kashiwara), and Kei Mizusawa (voice of Chie Isurugi).