Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo



Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo, roughly translated as Wheel Country, Sunflower Girl, is an eroge developed by Akabeisoft2.

The game takes place in a country where law is based upon deterrence and criminals are assigned "obligations" fitting for their crimes. If a criminal disobeys an obligation, they are sentenced to live their lives in a concentration camp, where most die before finishing their prison term.

Within this society, a man named Morita Kenichi aspires to the position of Special High Class Individual, one who holds authority over said criminals and is in charge of rehabilitating them to become productive members of society.

For the purpose of fulfilling his ambition, Kenichi returns to the hometown that has long since forgotten him.

To finish his training, he must rehabilitate three girls, two of which are childhood friends. All come with personal issues by the bucketload.

A fandisk has been released titled Sharin no Kuni, Yukyuu no Shounenshoujo, roughly translated as Wheel Country, Boys & Girls of Eternity which includes all the epilogues for the heroines of the original game plus The Houzuki Chapter which sheds light on Houzuki's own story & bring the original, almost Bolivian Army Ending to a close.

A Fan Translation was released by the TLWiki in 2009 and can be found here. A translation for the fandisc was also made.

"Kenichi: "Oh well. The more tsun she is now, the more dere she'll be later." Touka: "You're doing that muttering thing again...""
 * The Artifact -- In the fandisc epilogues, the obligations are no longer really part of the plot and thus the fact that this is supposed to be a world alternate to our own becomes slightly inconvenient with slightly awkward situations like Kenichi explaining to Sachi that the place they're going is just like Europe from the Sci Fi novels.
 * As You Know -- Strange example. The 'as you know' stuff is actually about our legal system and customs, while you have to pick up bits and pieces of theirs and put it together because that's what is really common knowledge.
 * Badass -- Houzuki. Kenichi. Heck, each girl get their badass moment.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For -- In the fandisc
 * Big Bad -- A rare example where the greatest villain is the protagonist's mentor.
 * Big Damn Heroes -- Part of Special High Class Individual training must be about pulling off this trope, considering how often Kenichi does this - Chapter 5 has him doing it several times in a row, in addition to earlier occurrences. Isono, of all people, also has a knack for just happening to be in the right place at the right time with the tools Kenichi needs.
 * Black Comedy Rape/Rape Is Love -- Ririko has an "interesting" way of showing affection for Kenichi.
 * Blatant Lies -- "All the characters depicted in this game are 18 years or older."
 * Break the Cutie -- Touka, arguably Sachi.
 * Natsumi. By the buckets.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall -- Kenichi. He often talks out loud to himself explaining things about the society he's in or talking about the current events happening in the story. Sometimes the rest of the cast will ask him why he talks to himself out loud.

"Chapter 2: Sachi: "I cannot afford to waste my time making money." ~Louis Agassiz Chapter 3: Touka: "The child is father of the Man." ~William Wordsworth Chapter 4: Natsumi: "What force is more potent than love?" ~Igor Stravinsky Chapter 5: : "I shut my eyes in order to see." ~Paul Gauguin Novel Complete: "There is no such thing as society." ~Margaret Thatcher"
 * Brother-Sister Incest -- Ririko was rather teasing when Kenichi was young. And by teasing we mean BDSM play, though they never actually had sex.
 * Cassandra Truth -- Kenichi often makes throwaway references to things like being wealthy or having fought in a war, which the girls tend to pass off as just Kenichi being weird.
 * Catch Phrase -- Kenichi, Sachi, and Touka all have them, and they're all lampshaded and played with to hell.
 * Cat Smile -- One of Sachi's more common expresses is a somewhat subtle cat smile.
 * Chekhov's Armoury -- Ohhh yeah. The game even flashes back to all the hints about when The Reveal is made to make it not seem like an Ass Pull. If you play through this twice you'll be amazed at all the hints at future twists and character's pasts.
 * Chick Magnet -- Granted, it is an H-game, but all the main girls will fall in love with Kenichi by the end of the game no matter which one you choose. Kenichi is also aware of his good looks. Special High Class Individual training actually requires being one as one of the tests was to get names and phone numbers from a number of random women in the street in a short space of time.
 * Childhood Friend Romance - Natsumi and Sachi are both Kenichi's childhood friends and potential romantic options. Natsumi's closer to the Yamato Nadeshiko variation, while Sachi's closer to the Tsundere / One of the Boys version, though neither fits perfectly. For various reasons they don't realize or accept they've previously known him until he outright tells them, though.
 * Child Prodigy -- Mana is implied to be one, but lacks the proper opportunities due to being a foreigner.
 * Closet Sublet -- Mana sleeps in Sachi's closet.
 * Cloudcuckoolander -- Isono, who talks to fairies (which exist entirely in his imagination since this isn't one of those types of games) and often changes subjects every sentence. Kenichi is also sometimes considered one of these in-universe but the audience knows better, being able to follow his trains of thought via flashbacks and internal monologue.
 * Conversational Troping -- Welcome to Corneria, Bandage Babe, and Tsundere, among others.
 * Crapsack Only by Comparison -- The government makes life pretty terrible for the main cast over the course of the game, but rates of crime and socially destructive behavior throughout the country are implied to actually be very low, and obligations such as the ones the heroines labor under quite rare, when compared to imprisonment in our world.
 * Crazy Prepared --
 * Crowning Moment of Funny -- When explains her past connection to Touka, which involves her forcing Touka to call her Onee-sama, teaching her violent catch phrases ("I'll murder you!") and generally how to be Tsundere. Made even better by the Mood Whiplash.
 * Cryptic Quotes -- One for the start of each chapter, and one when the novel is completed at least once. Each perfectly reflects the over arching theme of every chapter:
 * Crowning Moment of Funny -- When explains her past connection to Touka, which involves her forcing Touka to call her Onee-sama, teaching her violent catch phrases ("I'll murder you!") and generally how to be Tsundere. Made even better by the Mood Whiplash.
 * Cryptic Quotes -- One for the start of each chapter, and one when the novel is completed at least once. Each perfectly reflects the over arching theme of every chapter:
 * Cryptic Quotes -- One for the start of each chapter, and one when the novel is completed at least once. Each perfectly reflects the over arching theme of every chapter:

"Kenichi: "...Hold on!" Yeah, wait just a second. This was one of THOSE situations, wasn't it? I'd seen this sort of thing before in sci-fi novels. The girl on the other side of the door was in the middle of changing her clothes. And she was going to scream "Gyaa!" as soon as I entered. Yeah, that had to be it! But, for the sake of my own growth, it would be proper... nay, necessary for me to grow accustomed to such scenarios!"
 * The end of the Houzuki chapter has "The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on." ~ Walter J. Lippmann
 * Cutting the Knot -- Houzuki is a big fan.
 * Usually in a really evil way, such as Natsumi's chapter where he
 * Depraved Bisexual --.
 * Despair Event Horizon -- The girls very nearly crossed that line.
 * Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male) / Rape Is Okay When Its Female On Male -- While not full-on rape, the definite sexual slant to it causes both tropes to apply to
 * Downer Ending -- Not the story as a whole but
 * Drugs Are Bad -- No really, he can quit at any time!
 * More like
 * Except
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Evil Mentor -- Houzuki to Kenchi Morita/
 * Fake Weakness: and
 * Fate Worse Than Death -- The Maximum Penalty
 * Fan Nickname: The Higuchi family is sometimes called the "Ero" family in China because of the Japanese Kanji could be rendered as such. Houzuki is called "Gov. Wakamoto".
 * First-Name Basis -- An important milestone to cross in Touka's chapter.
 * Five-Man Band --
 * The Hero -- Kenichi/
 * The Lancer --
 * The Big Guy -- Sachi
 * The Smart Guy -- Isono
 * The Chick -- Touka
 * Flower Motifs -- The town is surrounded by a huge field of sunflowers, which provides a backdrop for many important events of the game. Additionally Kenichi refers a few times to one or more of the girls as the "sunflower girl(s)" in the dialogue, and the sunflower has potent symbolism in-universe, as demonstrated in one climatic scene.
 * Forced to Watch -- The whole town is forced to watch . Or at least they would have been if it had gone according to plan.
 * Freak-Out -- Natsumi has one, when
 * The Gadfly -- Kenichi loves to tease and make sarcastic remarks at everybody but Natsumi (which a few of his targets note frustratedly.) Interestingly he also follows the original definition of the word as well. To motivate the girls to work to throw off their obligations, he intentionally disrupts the lifestyles that they've adopted to adjust to them, or goes out of his way to bring up uncomfortable past events that they've just swept under the rug.
 * Gag Boobs -- Evidently any weight accumulated by Sachi due to her lazy lifestyle went to her breasts.
 * Generation Xerox -- Much as he would hate to admit it, Kenichi acts just like minus the flirting.
 * Genre Savvy -- Kenichi, and Isono to some extent. Kenichi will often point out things that happen in manga and anime before doing it. One of the most notable examples is when he goes to get Touka at dinnertime. Before he goes inside her room he calls out to her a few times but gets no response. As he puts his hand on the doorknob we get this:

""I bet it's tough to get the Moriken ending.""
 * Sachi as well:

": "I don't think there'd be anything more wonderful than having them ask us which daddy gave birth to them."
 * Go Mad From the Isolation -- The expected result of the Maximum Penalty, usually followed by suicide.
 * Graceful Loser --
 * In that moment, Houzuki seems to show a hint of his humanity; acknowledging It seems that he finally respects Kenchi as an equal,  That reason kept Houzuki from killing Kenichi when they first met.
 * The fan disk gives more reasons for Houzuki's motivations, why he kept Kenichi alive, and why he went to such lengths to try to make Kenichi into a man who could stand at the top of society.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: One of Ken's classmates from the flashback can't take rejection very well.
 * Guile Hero -- Kenichi's learned a few tricks about manipulating people.
 * Handicapped Badass -- Houzuki is an old man with a cane and a limp in one leg, but he can probably beat the shit out of you in a moment.
 * Hannibal Lecture -- Houzuki's preferred method of communication.
 * Has Two Daddies:
 * "I am not sure I share your sentiments.""

"Houzuki: "Detestable villains such as myself are necessary to urge those who reach toward the sun... ...into action. Life is a series of vicissitudes. And, regardless of how much good or evil there is in the world, the sun will continue to rise from the east.""
 * Heroic BSOD -- Natsumi's default state. During the periods Kenichi lives with her, she spends much of her time just sitting in a corner, staring at the wall, zoning out and trying to escape reality.
 * Hero Worshipper -- Sachi and Isono both idolize Higuchi Saburou, even though he's dead and might as well be the Anti-Christ according to the government.
 * Hey, That's My Line! -- Sachi gets annoyed at Kenichi for using her morning catchphrase - "All right! Today I'm going to give it my all at full power!" - twice. On the other hand, when he tries using Touka's - "I'll murder you!" - he only gets blank looks... because the people he says it to either refuse to admit it or are a dream of his.
 * Humans Are Flawed -- The theme of the entire story is debating if they are a source of strength; a drive to better oneself, and something which makes life colourful and interesting, or a weakness to be exploited by the sufficiently cunning; to manipulate others in order to make them conform to a greater plan.
 * Innocent Cohabitation -- Not having a place of his own to stay, he moves in with whatever girl he's rehabilitating. This causes some misunderstandings with others when he's living with Sachi, who's rather... aggressive. And, of course, you can make it not so innocent...
 * I Will Wait for You -- Natsumi - the first thing we learn about her is that she's waiting for somebody to return, in spite of everybody telling her they'll never be back. Her relationship with this trope is a bit complicated, though.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold -- In the fandisc Sachi epilogue, the paint Sachi was accused of plagiarizing appears. He's rather grumpy and clearly does believe she was copying him. After a few semi hostile confrontations with her, he drops by to interrupt her painting one more time... to say that she needs to apply another layer of paint because in the low humidity climate they're in the paint will fade otherwise, making her fail a competition for the same reason he did.
 * Kawaiiko -- Touka and Natsumi.
 * Kiss of Death -- Kenichi delivers one to Sachi, using it to administer her sedatives per her obligation. While she's trapped under a rock in a cold damp cave.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall --
 * Sachi also says something to the effect of 'I bet it's difficult to get the Moriken ending.' Since she's a big computer person and self centered, she probably does just happen to talk like this.
 * Likes Older Women -- Isono has a hopeless crush on Kyouko, his homeroom teacher.
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Love Triangle -- If you pick Sachi or Touka there are scenes indicating they feel a certain amount of rivalry with Natsumi.
 * There are hints in the original game that kinda point to this:
 * MacGuffin --.
 * Memento MacGuffin -- Natsumi's hair ribbon. It looks ragged because she's been wearing it for a long time. Messing with it is also a Berserk Button.
 * Mind Rape -- Don't get into a staring contest with Houzuki. Seriously. Heck, don't even talk to him. And never, ever, listen to his advice.
 * Moment Killer -- The government pacification of the town in response to Higuchi Saburou's rebellion began just as Bad timing...
 * Mood Whiplash -- The earliest example, not counting Eri who we barely knew, is probably the Amnesty Festival. Talking, laughing and having fun ending in
 * Moral Dissonance -- The plan to could very well have resulted in  if they hadn't gotten lucky. Granted,, but the willingness to put a bunch of nameless civilians at mortal risk for the sake of one named character is a bit discomforting.
 * Moving the Goalposts --
 * My Greatest Failure -- During Saburou's rebellion while he was a child,
 * Necessarily Evil -- . The government itself may consider the obligation system in this light.
 * My Greatest Failure -- During Saburou's rebellion while he was a child,
 * Necessarily Evil -- . The government itself may consider the obligation system in this light.

"And I'm glad for being proven wrong."
 * Nietzsche Wannabe -- Natsumi, though it's portrayed as a symptom of her personality being warped in general from her Trauma Conga Line.
 * Norio Wakamoto -- Provides the voice of Houzuki.
 * Obfuscating Insanity --
 * Official Couple -- Natsumi and Kenichi. The main story line only changes slightly depending on what girl you pick, and Natsumi's chapter comes off somewhat awkwardly if you aren't pursuing her ending.
 * Parental Abandonment -- Touka's the only character to even still live with any parental figure at all.
 * Pet the Dog -- As manipulative, sadistic and heartless Houzuki is for most of the story, he has his moments:
 * The best of which occur at the end., in spite of his best efforts to crush their will to oppose him.
 * It doesn't stop once the credits have rolled; as the main character and his friends are all somehow :
 * In Natsumi's epilogue: . Houzuki is probably doing this to cover his own ass, rather than out of the goodness of his heart. We have to remember that is actually illegal even under the country's harsh judiciary system.
 * I think the fandisk pretty much nixes that theory on Houzuki's motivations.
 * I think the fandisk pretty much nixes that theory on Houzuki's motivations.

"Uzuki (after Kenichi walks in on Touka sleeping naked in the bath): Good heavens. This script employs too many cliches..."
 * In 's epilogue:.
 * In Touka's epilogue:.
 * In the Harem epilogue:.
 * Protectorate -- Natsumi is Kenichi's - one of the first things he does in the game is threaten to kill Houzuki if he does anything to her. To his face.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits -- In the final chapter of the visual novel, Refer to Five-Man Band while you're here.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure -- Houzuki's rare Pet the Dog moments come from him allowing Kenichi to bend the rules to achieve a tangible result, or, say, agreeing Natsumi's previous supervising Special High Class Individuals were incompetent. Of course, it's perfectly in line with his "ends justify the means" mentality and he kicks the dog more than enough to make up for it.
 * Though he really does stop kicking once the epilogue rolls around.
 * Rebellious Princess -- Saika Mina, from the fan disk, is from a very wealthy and strict family of Shinto priests but wanted freedom so she indulge in what would be considered rebellious youth culture, such as hip-hop music that uses vile languages to criticize authority and the government. She even wrote rap music and sang them (as imposible as it may be to imagine someone with her personality to do). It would not be such a big deal if it were not for the prestige of her family, and this is the cause of her obligation.
 * The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified -- Played straight or inverted, depending on whose viewpoint you're taking. In the eyes of the government-mandated history, and Houzuki, the uprising is viewed as an act of terrorism, which destabilized the nation and forced the government to do the terrible things it did. On the flipside, the main character and his friends, after having their town erased, their families broken, their community massacred, and their childhoods traumatized; they see the uprising as a display of heroism and sacrifice in the name of justice..
 * School Uniforms Are the New Black -- Mostly justified - people with obligations are required to wear their patches indicating them prominently at all times so that other people may treat them accordingly, and Houzuki's ordered that his approval is required before any of the girls wear another outfit to ensure compliance. As for Kenichi, he's living out of a suitcase and can't carry more than he truly needs.
 * Selective Obliviousness --
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran -- Kenichi.
 * Show Within a Show -- An unnamed "sci-fi" book series has some popularity and is read avidly by several characters. It chronicles the societies of our world, which is of course fictional in theirs. Kenichi often uses this to highlight differences between reality and the in-story world.
 * Shrinking Violet -- Natsumi, most obviously., not so obviously.
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts -- Natsumi's ending, though they had to Earn Their Happy Ending so it can't really be held against them.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism -- The game is a struggle between Kenichi, who believes that humans are redeemable, noble and strong, and his mentor Houzuki, who believes humans are weak, foolish, and should be controlled.
 * Stepford Smiler -- Kenichi. It upsets Natsumi, the only one to really catch on.
 * Sunny Sunflower Disposition -- Not surprising this trope would be present given all the sunflowers around, though it might be surprising that Natsumi would fall under this... before, and after snapping out of, being broken anyway.
 * Suspiciously Vague Age -- See Blatant Lies above.
 * Tenchi Solution -- One possible ending, the one where you don't pick a heroine, is a harem ending. The girls all note that hey, Kenichi's father did it and everyone was happy, right? There are no adult cgs for it, though.
 * That Man Is Dead --
 * There Are No Therapists -- Averted - Isono claims to have seen one (and been declared mentally unsound), and it's logical to both Kenichi and likely the audience that resolving the girls' psychological issues would be crucial to properly rehabilitating them (which is his actual job).
 * Theme Music Power-Up -- Any time "Watch Out!" starts playing, Kenichi's about to do something awesome.
 * The Power of Love --
 * The Tease -- Sachi
 * Thinking Out Loud: Kenichi does this occasionally.
 * Title Drop --
 * Training from Hell: The PAQT is one due to the fact that it's rumored to result in casualties occasionally. Training to be a Special High Class Individual (under Houzuki) is literally this - one cadet is shot dead at the very beginning of the game for being late to an appointment.
 * . The execution of Eri takes another meaning entirely. Eri had a few days more to live because of an incident in her fandisc chapter.
 * Trauma Conga Line -- The last seven years of Natsumi's life. Kenichi's too, but much of it was deliberate and designed to make him a stronger person.
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour -- Mana doesn't drink or smoke, but her emotional maturity creeps out Sachi and Kenichi at times.
 * Tsundere -- Touka, as noted in the Breaking the Fourth Wall example. Almost everybody is Genre Savvy enough to interpret it as her having a crush on Kenichi.
 * Amusingly enough, he actually didn't really think she liked him despite teasing her about it and lampshading her behavior. He just wanted to piss her off.
 * Twist Ending -- . It's unclear if there are any ulterior motives, but Houzuki seems willing to leave them alone for now.
 * Ubermensch -- The ideal of the Special High Class Individual, best exemplified by Houzuki, who gives precisely no shits about society's norms and laws except to the extent that they can be used to manipulate others in pursuit of his own ends. He plays the whole cast like a fiddle for the vast majority of the game, and is a figure of quite some status beyond "merely" a Special High Class Individual.
 * The Unfavorite --
 * Unperson -- Since they don't have the death penalty, they instead have a variant of this as their great punishment.
 * Unwanted Harem -- At the beginning of Sachi's route after a confession Kenichi asks Mana if she knows what a harem is. To his surprise, she does. And then assumes he must be making one and asks if she can join.
 * Visionary Villain -- As ruthless as Houzuki's conduct is, he's not doing it for the sake of evil alone. He truly believes that what he is doing will improve society and preserve its security. No matter the cost to the lives of individuals.
 * What the Hell, Hero? -- As a Guile Hero meddling in very sensitive affairs in others characters' lives as he lives with them, there's pretty much no way this could not happen to Kenichi.
 * Who Writes This Crap?
 * What the Hell, Hero? -- As a Guile Hero meddling in very sensitive affairs in others characters' lives as he lives with them, there's pretty much no way this could not happen to Kenichi.
 * Who Writes This Crap?


 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle -- The credits roll after Sachi's route finishes. For most VNs this would be an appropriate enough place to have credits, but the story is structured so that one route follows another in a certain order.