Kana: Little Sister

""Today, I saw the ocean. I'm not afraid anymore.""

Kana: Little Sister (Kana ~Imouto~) is a Visual Novel depicting the story of 15-year-old Kana, a girl who suffers from a chronic life-threatening disease and her older brother, Takamichi (Taka), who supports her and cares for her. The game deals with the relationship between both siblings, which gets more and more intense as time progresses. There is a clear incestuous element later, but which goes far beyond mere physical attraction.

The game has a fairly long history, with its first release by D.O. in 1999. It caused quite a splash in the industry by combining a typical Dating Sim outline with very dramatic plot elements. This went so far that the actual sex scenes are few and far between, and are used more for narrative purposes than for titillation. This resulted in the trend of drama in dating sims becoming increasingly more important than the pornographic scenes, with often full-blown Tear Jerker content and Melodrama. Games of this type are often named "Utsu-ge" in Japanese, meaning "depressing game", which fits the contents nicely.

An English version of the game was released by G-Collections in 2002, with the erotic content uncensored.

Despite being filled to the brim with the cliches that make the genre infamous, the game still has a compelling plot, helped along by Taka's thoughtful narration. It is through his eyes that we see the story unfold, starting in the past, when he and his sister were children. The game covers a time period of about 10 years, in which the characters grow and have to make (sometimes tough) decisions.

"Kana: It's about a forbidden love between a brother and his little sister. I cough up my tea."
 * Adaptation Dye Job: Of a sort. Kana in the remade Kana: Okaeri! version has black hair, though she was a brunette in the original.
 * Even more sort-of: The artwork from the original had her as a brunette, but this conflicts with the actual game text, which describes her hair as being black
 * A Date with Rosie Palms: Yumi admits to it.
 * Big Brother Attraction
 * Big Brother Instinct
 * Bittersweet Ending: When it's not a downright Downer Ending.
 * Particularly, since her moving out is not necessarily a bad thing. She might had moved out because she doesn't want to be just his sister.
 * Bland-Name Product: During the hike up the mountain, Taka states that he was playing "Pork-mon".
 * He later shows Kana how to play "Buyo Buyo", the popular puzzle game, at an arcade.
 * Broken Bird:
 * Brother-Sister Incest
 * Chekhov's Gift: The recording pendant that Taka gives Kana in the very first scene of the game plays a big role in the first ending.
 * Dating Sim
 * : depends on the ending,
 * Downer Ending: Most of the game's endings.
 * Seeing as how
 * Five-Man Band: Taka, his three best friends the Big Four/Shitennou, and Kana guesting as The Chick make up one for a brief but memorable rescue scene.
 * Golden Ending:
 * Goldfish Scooping Game
 * Guide Dang It: Most H-Games feature roughly one path for each character. This game has six paths for two characters, making it much harder to tell which path you're on. One of the endings is also initially locked out, and the game makes more use of counter type variables than flags.
 * Hello, Nurse!: No, you don't end up with Mikki in any of the endings.
 * Ill Girl: Kana, Cana.
 * I Should Write a Book About This
 * Multiple Endings: There are six.
 * : Kana and the main character. Although they still.
 * Porn with Plot: A classic example. Many players started playing it for the former, but wound up sticking with it for the latter.
 * Primal Scene: Depending on path, either  — awkward doesn't even begin to cover it.
 * Seinen: This is still very much aimed at adolescent males, although the tissues will likely be used more for wiping tears.
 * . Kana even promises to make it happen.
 * Spit Take: At one point, Yumi meets up with Taka and whispers in his ear, " ", prompting a spit-take complete with sound effect. Also in the game, Taka visits Kana in the hospital, and sees a book on her shelf. He asks her what it's about.

"Taka: Well... Kana: ...... Taka: ...... Kana: ...... Taka: ...... Kana: ...... Taka: ...... Kana: ...... Taka: ...... Kana: ......"
 * The Caretaker
 * Through the Eyes of Madness:.
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Deconstructed, as the main character knows very well that Kana is mostly so good because she hasn't seen much of the world.
 * And this gets even more emphasis in the best ending, where Kana decides.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Yumi, although she.
 * Utsuge
 * Visible Silence: The conversation gets very awkward if you give your sister an erotic lamp as a birthday gift.


 * Would Hit a Girl: Taka comes extremely close to this with three girls pushing Kana around at school.
 * And literally, to an extent, when Kana becomes hysterical upon learning about her true prognosis; there is an option to slap her back into sanity.