Myself ; Yourself is a Japanese visual novel developed by Yeti which was released on December 20, 2007 for the PlayStation 2. Myself ; Yourself is the second original game published by Regista, the first being I/O. Takumi Nakazawa, the main scenario writer for the Infinity series, is the principal writer for Myself ; Yourself. Character design for the game is provided by Mutsumi Sasaki, who also produced the original character design for Memories Off, Happy Lesson, and Futakoi. Before the game's release, a light novel based on the story, written by Takumi Nakazawa, and illustrated by Wadapen, was serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine between March and November 2007, published by MediaWorks. An animetelevision series adaptation by Doga Kobo aired in Japan from October to December 2007 on TV Kanagawa and contained thirteen episodes. A spin-off sequel to the visual novel was developed by the previous staff entitled Myself ; Yourself: Sorezore no Finale and was released on May 28, 2009 for the PlayStation 2.
Plot
Myself ; Yourself is set in 2007 in the fictional town Sakuranomori in W Prefecture which is modeled after Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The town is in a quiet, rural area on the southern tip of the prefecture and borders the Pacific Ocean. Sakuranomori is the birthplace of Sana Hidaka, a sixteen-year-old high school student, who grew up with his childhood friends Nanaka Yatsushiro & Aoi Oribe, his best friend Shusuke Wakatsuki, and Shusuke's fraternal twin sister Shuri Wakatsuki. Sana left Sakuranomori when he was eleven years old, but returns five years later living on his own in the apartment building Aoi's family runs. Sana soon finds out that while some things have stayed the same, there are still just as many things that have changed.
A six-chapter light novel under the title Myself ; Yourself Sorezore Overture, based on the visual novel's story, started serialization in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine on March 30, 2007 and ran until November 30, 2007. The novel is written as a prologue to the game by Takumi Nakazawa, who has also written scenarios for Ever17, and Memories Off 2nd, and is illustrated by Wadapen. Each chapter centers on one of the six heroines; chapters one through six are arranged as: Nanaka, Aoi, Shuri, Yuzuki, Hinako, and Asami. ;Chapters
"Seven children: Nanaka's Story", published March 30, 2007
"The Lost Child Aoi-san: Aoi's Story", published April 30, 2007
"Me and Him, My Friend: Shuri's Story", published June 30, 2007
"Close Encounter: Yuzuki's Story", published August 30, 2007
"A Small and Large First Step: Hinako's Story", published September 30, 2007
"What Thing Did You Lose?: Asami's Story", published November 30, 2007
Anime
An anime television series adaptation aired in Japan between October 3, 2007 and December 26, 2007 on TV Kanagawa containing thirteen episodes. The series is written by Gō Zappa, directed by Yasuhiro Kuroda, and animated by Doga Kobo, their first television production, through the Myself ; Yourself Production Committee, which is composed ofHappinet Pictures, Marvelous Entertainment, The 5pb, and Pony Canyon Enterprises. Seven DVD compilations, the first six containing two episodes of the anime, and the last containing the final episode have been released; the DVDs are distributed by Happinet Pictures. The anime has been licensed by Maiden Japan.
Visual novels
The Myself ; Yourself visual novel, developed by Yeti, was released on December 20, 2007 playable on the PlayStation 2. The game is published by Regista which mainly ports all-age versions of adult games developed by other companies, but in 2006 developed and published their first original game called I/O; Myself ; Yourself is the second time Regista has published an original title. Character design for the game is provided by Mutsumi Sasaki, who also did the original character design for Memories Off, Chaos;Head, Happy Lesson, and Futakoi. Unlike most visual novels, Myself ; Yourself has two male protagonists. A spin-off sequel to the visual novel entitled Myself ; Yourself: Sorezore no Finale was developed by the previous production staff and was released in spring 2009. The game features four new scenarios with Nanaka and Asami getting separate scenarios, and there are two duel scenarios with Shuri and Aoi in one, and Hinako and Yuzuki in the other. Several new characters are also introduced.
Music
The opening theme for the anime is "Tears Infection" by Kaori, and the ending theme is "Kimi to Yozora to Sakamichi to" by Kanako Itō; the singles for both songs were released on October 24, 2007. The first opening theme for the visual novel is "Day-break" by Kaori, and the second opening theme is "ivy" by Kanako Itō. "Day-break" was released on the same single album as "Tears Infection", and "ivy" was released on the same single as "Kimi to Yozora to Sakamichi to" as B-side tracks. The visual novel version has seven ending themes: "Another World" and "Myself ; Yourself" by Ami Koshimizu, "Aoitori" by Tomoko Kaneda, "Never leave me alone" by Yukari Tamura, "Hajimete no Kiss? " by Ayumi Murata, "Mirai Kansoku" by Megumi Toyoguchi, and "Haru no Kiss" by Mai Nakahara. Each of the ending themes are sung by the voice actresses of the six heroines from the series. These songs were released as character song albums: volumes one through three were released on November 21, 2007 and consist of the themes "Another World", "Hajimete no Kiss? ", and "Haru no Kiss" respectively. The second batch, volumes four through six, were released on December 7, 2007 and consisted of the themes "Never leave me home", "Aoitori", and "Mirai Kansoku" respectively. The game's original soundtrack was released with the limited edition release of the game on December 20, 2007; the soundtrack was also used for the anime version.
Reception
Stig Høgset from THEM Anime Reviews comments that the anime is similar to Kanon due to both having "a guy who's not a complete loser, who returns to his old town and meets various people, most of them girls or teachers/parents of said girls. Unlike with Kanon, however, these are people he already know." He criticizes the anime for Aoi's "unchanging voice" throughout the flashback, the present and the epilogue that flash forwards ten years into the future.
