Saya no Uta



"Each night, I went to sleep wishing that this would turn out to be a nightmare. Yet each morning I awoke to find that the world was just as horribly warped as it was the day before. I have to live while blending in, while acting like one of them. Just as I've done these past three months, I will continue to do for the rest of my life."

A Visual Novel / H-game by Nitroplus, Saya no Uta ("Song of Saya") revolves around a medical school student, Fuminori Sakisaka. Before the main plot, he was involved in a car accident which killed both his parents. He was saved, however, by an experimental brain surgery... which just happened to drastically alter his perception of the world. Everything now appears to him as if it were made from guts, slime, and gore.

Well, almost everything.

One night while still in the hospital, a girl dressed in white appears before him. To him she appears completely normal, and above that, downright beautiful. Rather than consider the why of this, he latches onto her as his reason to keep living, and convinces her to move in with him once he's released from the hospital.

The more things go on, however, the more Fuminori withdraws from the rest of his life. His friends become increasingly worried for his sake, including Yoh Tsukuba, who has had a crush on him since before the accident. His doctor, Ryoko Tanbo, still has the impression that there's something he's not telling her... This is true enough; out of fear of becoming a lab experiment, Fuminori never told her (or anyone save Saya) about the way he now sees the world. Finally, there is his search for information on Professor Ougai. All these things and the decision on whether Fuminori wants to be normal interact to drive the plot forward.


 * Action Girl: Saya and Dr. Tanbo in different ways.
 * Adult Fear: Pretty much all characters in the Visual Novel meet horrible endings, but for this trope in particular, is the primary example and arguably the only one worthy of feeling sorry for. A doting family man has his life suddenly thrown into hell after, from there on the otherwise upstanding citizen goes , and as if this wasn't excruciating painful enough  mind deranges so much that after , with she now being the only person , the first thing in his agenda is . A true nightmare - no, better yet - a night terror to any decent family man out there.
 * Adaptation Decay: The American comic book of Saya no Uta takes some... "creative" directions with the plot. Fuminori is changed to a more "American" name (Josh), Saya is no longer, but rather . We are shown Saya is also "aged up" to a less controversial body in Josh's eyes. While she was almost a child in the H-game, she's now about 18 physically.
 * Alien Invasion: Of a sort.
 * Alien Sky: Fuminori's warped perceptions extend to the sky, too.
 * Aliens Speaking Japanese:.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Artistic License: Biology - Admitted, at least: A disclaimer at the beginning notes that this is in effect.
 * Badass: Kouji. It takes some serious balls to do the things he has to.
 * Badass Labcoat: Ryoko Tanbo.
 * Battle Couple: Fuminori and Saya in two of the endings.
 * Beneath the Mask: Dr. Tanbo. On the job, she's a kind, friendly doctor, albeit a bit secretive.
 * Beta Couple: Fuminori's former best friend, Kouji, and his girlfriend Oumi.
 * Betty and Veronica: Shy, hesitant Yoh is Betty, malicious and beautiful yet cute looking Saya is Veronica. Can be turned the other way around if all you look at is their body, though.
 * Big Damn Heroes: When saves.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology
 * Black Speech: Fuminori's hearing sense, along with all his other senses, is also warped: all voices but Saya's sound to him distorted, with weird frequency changes and other sounds hard to describe. This visual novel is dubbed, so we sometimes get to hear those voices as he hears them.
 * A different example we can also hear, later in the story:
 * Body Horror:
 * Break the Cutie: Yoh.
 * Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu:
 * Brown Note: Seeing is treated like this. Also a case of Take Our Word for It, as normally has to be the case for Brown Notes.
 * Coitus Uninterruptus: While Fuminori is on the phone, being threatened by Kouji,, and he segues into a conversation with Saya right afterward.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: In Fuminori's mind, red represents gruesome, disgusting and bad, while green represents ethereal, calming and good. For example, the gory world is primarily red in color, while Saya's hair and eyes have an ethereal, greenish tint.
 * Cthulhu Mythos: A heavy influence on the story, and Saya's background. It shows.
 * Cute Monster Girl: Brutal deconstruction.
 * Dark World: Fuminori sees the world as this.
 * Despair Event Horizon: The result of one ending.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Or rather,
 * Since Saya is not quite as physically powerful as some humans, it is possible to literally punch her out
 * Happens to Yoh as well.
 * Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?
 * Does Not Like Shoes: Saya is always barefoot.
 * Downer Ending: The specifics differ, but
 * Driven to Suicide: Meeting Saya is what keeps Fuminori from this.
 * Eldritch Abomination:  Somewhere between Starfish Aliens and Blob Monster in form. With tentacles. Also applied to.
 * : One of the endings.
 * Evil Is Visceral: Lovecraft inspiration, and also because the insanity producing hallucination is that the whole world is... meat.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Several.
 * Most prominently is
 * Fuminori in
 * Speaking about Fuminori, his point of view alone will drive you insane and if he never met Saya he would have committed suicide a long time ago.
 * Dr. Tanbo in
 * And finally, Kouji in
 * Final Battle
 * Flower Motifs: Saya compares herself to a dandelion a few times.
 * Foreign Remake: In the form of an American comic book.
 * Genre Savvy: Dr. Tanbo, to the point where she seems more like an experienced Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game) player than a doctor.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: Fuminori was lucky enough not to have this happen when he first saw the changed world. It's later played straight with
 * Gorn: Which Fuminori gets to see on a 24/7, world level scale!
 * The Grotesque:
 * Grotesque Cute
 * Grotesque Gallery
 * Hero Antagonist: Dr. Tanbo & Kouji
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Fuminori is Tamahome.
 * H-Game POV Character: Fuminori initially seems like a Type II B, but depending on route can wind up remaining this way, or descend all the way to a Type VI A or B, depending on your perspective.
 * Hidden Depths: Dr. Tanbo, namely.
 * Hospital Hottie: Dr. Tanbo.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Fuminori and Saya. This may not actually be the case (though she is apparently small enough ), but  is freaking tiny either way. (This could owe to the art style, however.)
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate: That moment in the abandoned nut house where
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: The first choice in game is whether Fuminori wants this.
 * I'm a Humanitarian:
 * Improvised Weapon: uses a rusty pipe at one point.
 * Interspecies Romance: Saya and Fuminori.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
 * Kill'Em All:
 * Loners Are Freaks
 * Love Freak: The only reason why
 * Love Hurts
 * Love Makes You Crazy and Evil: Fuminori and Saya
 * Love Triangle: Fuminori, Saya, and Yoh.
 * Mad Scientist:
 * Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Like the Cute Monster Girl above, Brutal Deconstruction.
 * Mars Needs Women:
 * Mercy Kill:
 * Monster Sob Story: It's hard not to feel for Saya and Fumitori at times, even after the latter's Moral Event Horizon.
 * Moral Myopia - Saya, for all of her Complete Monster level activities, is not actually all that inherently and purposely evil, and in fact does not understand most human moral standards, she does not even seem to comprehend any of her actions as malevolent. In fact, it's who shows more concrete, straightforward evil, since he knows damn well what he's doing and why it's wrong.
 * Multiple Endings: Three, to be precise.
 * Nanomachines: These were used in Fuminori's surgery.
 * Naughty Tentacles:
 * Nigh Invulnerability:
 * Nonstandard Game Over:
 * Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Ryouko killing.
 * Nosy Neighbor: Fuminori thinks of his neighbors like this.
 * Not Quite the Right Thing: The game's first branching off point is  Accepting  Refusing  Ironically, while the  ending is objectively   it's almost treated as a Nonstandard Game Over.
 * Occult Detective:
 * Only One Name: Saya.
 * Over the Shoulder Murder Shot: Saya does this. Although Fuminori doesn't catch it because of his warped vision.
 * Painful Transformation:
 * Panty Shot: As seen in the page image, Saya's short little skirt does little to actually cover her.
 * Parental Abandonment: Fuminori's parents are both dead.
 * Pixellation: Par for the course for a Japanese H-game. The player is given the option to censor some of the worst parts via a filter before the game starts.
 * Police Are Useless: The reason given by Ryoko for not calling police (beside her own crimes).
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Saya. A bit of Fridge Brilliance when considering Saya only had long-term human interaction with Fuminori and mad scientist Professor Ougai, neither of whom is exactly sane or normal, meaning Saya never learned of normal human behaviour or morality.
 * Pyrrhic Victory:
 * Rape as Drama:
 * ...As long as you consider.
 * Rasputinian Death:
 * Road Cone
 * Room Full of Crazy: The room where . The painted rooms in Fuminori's house might count, too.
 * Sanity Slippage: Anyone who sees Saya's true form or is suddenly exposed to the "guroverse" is prone to at least some, if they don't snap immediately.
 * Sawed-Off Shotgun
 * Say My Name: "Sakisaka... Fuminori...!"
 * Scenery Gorn: Literally.
 * Shout-Out: To a part of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix that had a similar storyline.
 * Slasher Smile:.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Definitely on the cynical side.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers:
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge
 * There Are No Therapists: Averted - Fuminori is unwilling to seek one out.
 * These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know
 * Together in Death:
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: Various books belonging to.
 * To Serve Man:
 * Tragic Villain: Fuminori
 * Unholy Matrimony: Fuminori and Saya.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Poor Yoh.
 * The Un-Reveal:
 * Averted in the comic adaptation, where
 * Utsuge
 * Villain Protagonist: Saya
 * Viral Transformation
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: None of the humans have any problem with killing any of the aliens because of how freakishly inhuman they look.
 * Woman in White: Saya
 * Womb Level: The way Fuminori sees the world is kind of like this, except he's not inside any creature.
 * Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Fuminori taunting Kouji.
 * Yandere: Both Fuminori and Saya and completely and utterly this for each other than they would destroy the world to be able to be together.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Everyone has a fairly normal hair color... save Dr. Tanbo, whose hair is green.
 * As is Saya's. Fuminori admits that this is probably because of his warped perception of reality.
 * You Said You Would Let Them Go
 * As is Saya's. Fuminori admits that this is probably because of his warped perception of reality.
 * You Said You Would Let Them Go