Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～



""It's those weapons. Why in this day and age are you so set on using knives and katana?" "I'm not set on using them.""

Also known as Triangle Hearts Sweet Songs Forever, depending on which piece of merchandise you're looking at.

The third entry in the Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～ Eroge series, which, like its predecessors, focuses on one boy and two girls trained in an ancient fighting style, the supernatural phenomenon surrounding them, and the threats that greed, lust and power present.

The titular triangle is formed by Kyouya Takamachi, only living heir to the Fuwaryuu sword style, and also practitioner of the Mikamiryuu style and has his own Harem, his "sister" Miyuki (actually his cousin), whose mother gave her to her brother and ran off to seek revenge against the man that killed her family, and Fiasse Crystela, an Idol Singer and long-lost childhood friend who has hurt her voice and is staying at their house.

Kyouya's father, Shirou, was killed by the same (supernatural) terrorist organization that once killed off the rest of his family, save for Kyouya, Miyuki and her mother, and now they set their sights upon the main trio. Kyouya has to stop them, as well as work out his friends' more-than-mundane problems. It also helps that they work for a clandestine special defense antiterrorist force forged from an alliance between China, Japan and the United States.

There is also a 4-episode OVA that takes place after the game. Fiasse is back on tour, but has received death threats, so naturally she calls upon the Takamachis. Her real bodyguard, Elise MacGaren, absolutely refuses to let some amateurs she knew as a child take her place, and begrudgingly agrees to work with them, provided they stay on the sidelines. Elise uses a gun and insults Kyouya and Miyuki's insistence on the sword, despite quickly learning how better off they are with katanas. But there's still something that she doesn't want to face, and seeing those two again is far too painful.

So who wins? Not Fiasse, not Miyuki, although Kyouya can pick either in the game -- it's Shinobu, the Japanese Vampire Childhood Friend. Hm. Didn't expect that.

However, this series is better known for introducing Kyouya's adorable nine-year-old sister Nanoha. Starting out as a satellite character with little relevance to the plot, she proved popular enough to be given her own Magical Girl spinoff game, and then an anime... which eventually took off and became an entire universe of its own.

This game and OVA provide examples of:

 * Action Mom: Mikami Misato.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: In the absence of Yuuno, Fate and Amy, Nanoha/Chrono is canon in this verse. And he's evil.
 * Alternate Continuity: And one that's far better known than the game itself.
 * Ascended Extra/Breakout Character: Nanoha, of course.
 * Audible Sharpness
 * Ax Crazy: Slicer from the OVA.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Kyouya and Elise in the OVA opening.
 * Backstory
 * Badass Family: The Takamachis.
 * Battle Butler: Noel, Elise, and Kyouya and Miyuki themselves.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Nanoha; although her "befriending" isn't quite as violent as the one we know and love, she still intimidates people twice her age despite her cuteness. Shinobu, too.
 * Big Fancy House
 * Bleached Underpants: The OVA.
 * Blood Knight: Many of them. Utterly averted by Miyuki, though.
 * Breakout Character: Nanoha.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: The Miyuki route, although they're actually cousins.
 * Brother-Sister Team
 * Cherry Blossoms: Nami, Nami, Nami, Nami, Nami. It helps that the trees are planted all over her shrine.
 * Chinese Girl: Yung-fa from the original Toraha and new character Lian-fei.
 * Close-Call Haircut: Miyuki's hair braids get sliced off when she ducks a sword swing.
 * Continuity Nod: Two haremettes from the first two games appear as side characters.
 * Creepy Cool Crosses: Slicer.
 * Dating Sim
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Nanoha's first-ever "befriending" -- she and Chrono hook up after she beats the tar out of him.
 * Demoted to Extra: Virtually most characters in this game who carry over to Nanoha -- especially Kyouya -- suffer a steep decline in importance in the original series, and are virtually phased out in A's and StrikerS.
 * In-game example: Shinobu is the winning girl, right? So why does she get so few scenes in the anime?
 * Disappeared Dad: Plenty of 'em, most prominent of which is Kyouya's father Shirou.
 * Dysfunction Junction
 * Failure Knight: Elise to Fiasse.
 * Fairy Companion: Lindy to Nanoha in her mini-scenario in the fan box.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Ghosts, kitsune, Japanese Vampires, Magical Girls, Robot Girls, pixies, interdimensional invaders, and that's just this one game.
 * Forgotten Childhood Friend: Elise from the OVA.
 * Full-Name Basis: Elise addresses most characters this way, in Western naming order, at that.
 * Gratuitous English: Quite a bit of it in the OVA, especially when an otherwise chilling conversation involving the main villain turns into Narm because of poor pronunciation and grammar. Also, Elise's "FREEZE!"
 * Heir to the Dojo
 * Hikaru Midorikawa: Kyouya's voice.
 * Hot Mom: Misato and Momoko; Sakura is a Hot Aunt, probably because she was a haremette in the first game.
 * Idol Singer
 * Important Haircut
 * Improbably-Female Cast: Sort of. The school and town part are perfectly fine, but the special defense forces?
 * Japanese Vampire: Shinobu.
 * Joshikousei
 * Kill All Humans: Kuon.
 * Kissing Cousins: The Miyuki route.
 * Last-Name Basis: Kyouya and Shinobu, despite First-Name Basis being fairly common among the cast.
 * Meido: Noel.
 * Robot Maid
 * Ninja Maid
 * Miko: Nami.
 * Martial Pacifist: Miyuki, who states she can never get used to fighting, but fights to protect Fiasse.
 * Morality Pet: Kuon gets a lot nicer from hanging around cute little Nanoha. Make "befriending" jokes as you will; Alternate Continuity or not, it is Nanoha.
 * Mysterious Parent: Misato.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Slicer from the OVA.
 * No Export for You: Hmm. Eroge are rarely licensed without the David Bowdler treatment, and those that are usually don't have any plot. Lyrical Nanoha has had disappointing sales figures in the Anglosphere, and no press materials have even mentioned what it spun off from. The OVA can't be licensed on its own because it's a continuation, not an adaptation -- fansubbers even knew this, and had tons of screen notes detailing who everyone was and what the viewers who hadn't played the game were missing. Is it even possible to get this licensed?
 * Mangagamer? (specifically the adults-only section)
 * Not Blood Siblings: Miyuki and Kyouya are cousins who grew up together (even if she doesn't use Japanese Sibling Terminology on him), but can end up in a relationship.
 * Petting Zoo People: Kuon.
 * Psycho for Hire: Slicer yet again.
 * Road Cone: The OVA, although it doesn't matter much, barely focusing on the Shinobu/Kyouya arc.
 * Robot Maid: Noel.
 * Schrodingers Cat: Shirou is dead in Toraha but very much alive and retired in Nanoha.
 * Secret Art: The Fuwa-ryuu sword style, exclusive to the Takamachi family.
 * Sink-or-Swim Fatherhood: Kaori, a woman Shiro had an affair with leaves Kyouya with him before leaving again, forcing him to raise Kyouya by himself.
 * Stalker with a Crush: The Fan, Fiasse's terrorist stalker.
 * Third Person Person: Shinobu refers to herself as "Shinobu-chan".
 * Two Guys and a Girl: Cheerful hero - Miyuki [despite being female], angsty hero - Kyouya, Distressed Damsel - Fiasse.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Officially, Fiasse and Miyuki, although Miyuki's a cousin. Elise from the OVA is the strongest example, as she doesn't have a story path in the game and therefore can only ever lose.
 * Unusual Ears: Kuon.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Shinobu officially, Fiasse and Miyuki if you pick their routes.
 * Villainous Crossdresser: The Slicer infiltrates the concert disguised as a woman.
 * Who Dunnit to Me?: Alisa.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Akira, Chrono and Lindy; then there's Shinobu and Noel for purple, Sakura for pink, Lian-fei for green...