Symphonic Rain

Symphonic Rain is a music-based Visual Novel created by Kogado Studio. It plays out for the most part like a regular visual novel, with very little input by "players" beyond clicking through text and making choices. Until, that is, you happen to hit a music stage, during which the gameplay makes good of its "music based" description and switches to an O2Jam/DDR like music game, complete with fully voiced songs written by the late Ritsuko Okazaki.

The story follows Chris, a third-year Fortelle student at Piova Communal School of Music, located in a city that never stops raining. His hobbies include staring blankly at rain, talking to an imaginary fairy that only he can see, and writing letters to his sweetheart, Arietta, who lives in a distant town. It is via one of Arietta's letter that we are first introduced to Chris' plight: With the finals fast approaching, Chris must find a vocalist to partner up with for his final graded performance.

There are four different prospective partners (who are all girls, naturally) throughout the story whom he can choose as his vocalist partner. For the easily emotional, get a tissue ready.

This game provides examples of:
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 * Abusive Parents:
 * Becoming the Mask:
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
 * Downer Ending: There is a bright spot in that
 * : basically suffers from a very long term version of this trope. Although you only find out about it in  route.
 * First Name Basis: Basically everyone since the story appears to be set in Italy, which isn't as formal as Japan.
 * Foil: Sociable, popular, hard working chick magnet Asino who is of average ability vs antisocial genius Chris.
 * Foreshadowing: Each of the partners songs are related to what happens to them during their route.
 * Genre Savvy: Chris is actually quite aware that his situation might well lead to him dating the girl he's hooked up with.
 * Golden Ending:
 * Gratuitous Italian
 * Green Eyed Monster:
 * Hidden Depths: Pretty much every character except
 * I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: With Torta. Mix it with his active avoidance of getting too close with other girls due to Chris's fidelity.
 * Leitmotif: All the main girls' theme songs are instrumental versions of the songs they end up singing at the end of the route or their image song.
 * Love Triangle: Torta -> Chris <-> Ari and in her route Asino -> Fal -> Chris, who may or may not reciprocate based on your choices.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Piova is Italian for rain and is also the name of the city where the story takes place and as one might expect, it's always raining.
 * Multiple Endings
 * Mundane Fantastic: It's extremely low key but the fact that the fortell runs on magic and the existence of Phorni suggest this.
 * Oblivious to Love: Averted. Chris is perfectly aware that Torta loves him, knows he could get Fal whenever he wants and can tell from Lise's reactions that she's also interested in him.
 * Rhythm Minigame: Doesn't overly influence the game except for  route where failing it will net you a bad end.
 * Ridiculous Procrastinator: Chris in regards to finding a partner.
 * Sanity Meter: Though you can't actually influence it, the Piova meter beneath the text box seems to serve as this for Chris.
 * Schizo Tech: Passenger trains and cars have been invented but the concept of a telephone doesn't exist with all messages going by post. This may be justified due to the influence of magic on this world though.
 * Sex Equals Love:
 * Shipper On Deck: Everyone ships Torta/Chris except Lise and Fal, basically.
 * Sibling Triangle
 * Sibling Yin Yang: Shy and quiet but supportive Ari who has no real skills vs the talented, outgoing Torta. Everyone thinks Chris matches with Torta better.
 * The Woobie: Lise. Surprisingly enough, as well, given her
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Torta and Ari respectively.
 * Utsuge
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Well, both sisters were friends, right? So either choice makes one of them winners. And Torta seems to be the main heroine...
 * Your Cheating Heart: Played painfully straight in every route..
 * Utsuge
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Well, both sisters were friends, right? So either choice makes one of them winners. And Torta seems to be the main heroine...
 * Your Cheating Heart: Played painfully straight in every route..
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Well, both sisters were friends, right? So either choice makes one of them winners. And Torta seems to be the main heroine...
 * Your Cheating Heart: Played painfully straight in every route..