Tokimeki Memorial/Heartwarming
The Tokimeki Memorial series is renowned for being at the far end of the idealistic side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, and thus for running with sweet and heartwarming romance: as such, expect to see a lot of heartwarming moments in that franchise. Here's a list of those:
Tokimeki Memorial franchise in general
- Basically every Happy Ending that doesn't fall in Crowning Moment of Funny is this. Especially if Tears of Joy from the character who got her/his feelings reciprocated by the protagonist are involved, as in the case of Shiori and Nozomi in 1, Saki and Ayako in Tabidachi no Uta, Hikari and Kaedeko in 2, and Maki, Yuu and Itsuki in 4.
- Also, nearly every character in Tokimeki Status during Valentine's Day.
Tokimeki Memorial 1
- Shiori and the protagonist's Double Birthday Event, where they reminisce on the toy ship he offered to her in their childhood days.
- Saki's "Tears of Joy" Event, when she cries of happiness after you and the base-ball team she's the manager of wins the Koshien. The scene is particulary memorable, as the game uses a special crying sprite for Saki not reused anywhere else in the game.
- Saki's Sick Episode special event, where she falls ill during the 3rd day of the School Trip, and you stay at her bedside during the 4th day. The sweet music box BGM and Saki's "If only I could be ill like this more often..." line she unconsciously slips out make the scene even more adorable.
- Ayako sleeping on the protagonist's shoulder, and saying "I love you" in her sleep if you don't wake her up, in her special Date Event at the Planetarium. Her peaceful and cute face during the scene adds to the "awwwwwww" factor as well.
- Mira's Christmas Party event, where she shivers from the cold and the protagonist offers her his coat. She takes her arm to "give some warmth", and then a few days later, she gives him back the coat, with all the little tears sewn off, courtesy of her. Considering she is the Lovable Alpha Bitch of the game, seeing her being so close to the protagonist is an adorable view to hold.
- Likewise, discovering Mira being so kind, caring, and adorable to her little brothers (such as in the main game, in drama tracks like her monologue in Volume 2 of Nijiiro no Seishun Forever, and the OVA), and little kids in general (as shown in Tabidachi no Uta) really adds a lot to her character.
- The ending of the Shiori Route in Tabidachi no Uta doubles as Crowning Moment of Awesome, as the protagonist, out of love for Shiori, symbolically completes the marathon route he couldn't participate in the day before due to a severe muscle tear in the leg, suffering hell in the process. Shiori, having guessed his intentions, waits for him at the finishing line all while cheering for him; and after, they confess their feelings in each other's arms. AWWWWWWWWW.
- The final line of Nijiiro no Seishun 's Perfect Ending, which doubles as a Title Drop for the game's Leitmotif, as Saki and the protagonist are happily holding in each other's arms, under a rainbow: "Anata ni deaete yokatta" (= I'm so glad I've met you).
Tokimeki Memorial 2
- The Blooming Stories Drama CD series are living and breathing this. Each CD has 3 Drama Tracks, placed in a order such as their contents show the evolution of the girl's feelings towards the protagonist: the first track takes place at the beginning of their relationship; the second track is when the girl has fallen in love with the protagonist; and the third track is after she has confessed her feelings to him. The heartwarming contents varies with the girls, with for example Mei having a Sand in My Eyes Onion Tears scene, or Kaori gradually believing back in The Power of Trust.
- As a whole, the "Futari Dake no X-Mas" (A Christmas for just the two of us) special events for each girl are made of heartwarming, meant to show how much the two characters have fallen in love with each other. It's a different kind of heartwarming scene depending on the girl ( a Snowed In situation for Hikari, a You Must Be Cold scene for Kaori, a Train Station Goodbye for Kaedeko, or a She Cleans Up Nicely scene for Homura for example), but they'll make you go awwwwww.
- KAORI YAE. That girl is the epitome of Crowning Moment of Heartwarming in Tokimeki Memorial 2. A lot of her Special Events ooze with those, especially the ones occuring after She's Back from her Heroic BSOD. Special mention go to the following Events:
- "The person I can believe in", which doubles as Crowning Moment of Awesome for the protagonist:
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Protagonist: Let's go back together, Yae-san? |
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- "Late-blooming Cherry Tree - Resolution", THE mandatory Event of her storyline, where she finally reveals her Backstory to the protagonist (again doubles as Crowning Moment of Awesome for him):
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Kaori: That's why... That's why, I'm like this cherry tree. Unable to bloom... Just a bothersome being... |
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- The Sick Episode event, where Kaori visits the protagonist at his home when he's ill, and lovingly feeds him with mikan (tangerine) lumps she prepared for him;
- The 3rd Year School Festival Event, where, if you choose to do a Tea Shop attraction, she'll cheerfully and happily act as the shop's waitress, donning a maid costume. And then there's the camp fire scene just after...
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Kaori: How beautiful... |
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- And then there's the Epilogue of the novel she's the heroine of, Anata o Shinjiteru, and more specifically its very last lines: see the Quotes section of the He's Back page for their English-translated version. The heartwarming is absolutely overflowing when finishing the novel on those lines.
- Hikari's 2nd Year Birthday event, if you saw the "It's the one who calls others 'idiots' who's one" Childhood Event, and if you offer her a Glass Dolphin figurine. The sweet BGM adds to the heartwarming of the scene as well.
- Hikari's 3rd Year School Festival Event, where the protagonist rushes to get back the precious-to-her-heart ring he offered her in their childhood, that he and Takumi inadvertently used as a selling item for the Small Item Shop. The scene when he gives her back the ring and she presses it in her chest is positively adorable.
- Kaedeko's Event where she and the protagonist meet again at Hokkaido, during the latter's School Trip. The two of them feared to never meet again after Kaedeko and her family's sudden moving away from Hibikino, so the scene is very powerful and poignant.
- Mei, being a cute Tsundere, has a good share of adorable Events. Among them are:
- "First Food", where the sheltered girl discovers for the first time fast-food, invited by the protagonist;
- "Flower-picking": the sight of a blushing Mei with a beautiful Flower in Her Hair is aaaaaaw-inducing;
- "You are my only slave", showing her Clingy Jealous Girl side (and embarrassing herself in front of everyone with this);
- and "Mei's memories", occuring if the protagonist met her in Childhood Mode: seeing her cry as they discovered they actually were the kids who played together back then, and renewing their promise of being together is really moving.
Tokimeki Memorial 4
Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 1
- The ending confession scenes run on this, but Sakuya Morimura's in particular brought the warm fuzzies (for this troper, at least). You just can't say no to a boy who plants a whole field of anemone flowers to confess his love for you and cries Tears of Joy if you reciprocate his feelings.
Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 2
- The most heartwarming moments from Itaru Hikami's route are related to his membership in the Student Council; after his overly confrontational campaign speech during the first year gets him booed down by his classmates, thanks to the heroine's influence he manages to better express his ideas and get elected in the second year. In the third year, if the heroine is on the council with him, she finds him staying late at school working on timetables for the rest of the council, and they have a quiet moment in which Itaru displays his committment to the other students and the heroine is able to support him by staying to help.
- Even more heartwarming, at the end of the third year Itaru prepares to step down as Student Council President. He assumes that the younger students will have their own ideas about how to run the council, and he's visibly moved when his juniors surprise him with a bouquet and heartfelt thanks for all of his work over the past two years, promising to live up to his example and confirming not only the difference he's made as Student Council President but how far he's come from the guy who only managed to alienate his classmates that first year.
- Katsumi Shiba has one if the heroine is the manager of the baseball club: he spends the first year and part of the second wistfully watching the baseball team practice, feeling unworthy of joining them due to an incident in middle school. During one of their games against another school, however, the pitcher starts playing dirty, and Shiba finds the heroine near tears. His response is to join the baseball club midgame and step up to bat, ignoring the pitcher's trash talk and proceeding to win the game even though he hasn't played in at least a year and a half, finally starting the process of getting over his past mistakes.
- He has another during the school play at the third-year culture festival when he departs a little from the script to tell the heroine about how much it's meant to him that she's supported and believed in him.
- All of the endings qualify, of course, but Teru Saeki's deserves special mention - especially following his concerted effort to push the heroine away a month prior - as he finally resolves for himself who the real Teru is and what he wants, and gives the heroine the key to his grandfather's cafe to hold onto until the day they're ready to re-open it together.
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Teru: I finally understand that I should just throw away this stupid pride. It can't be helped that it's uncool, that it's pathetic. Because I only think of you... I have no hesitations any more. That's the real me. |
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- After the heroine asks him about love, Itaru Hikami gives the subject some serious thought and eventually comes back with an answer:
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Itaru: I want a love that will change me. I'm very self-aware now, to the point that I hate myself for being an incomplete person. But once you set your rules, you can't really back down from that... That's why I want to be influenced. I want to be transformed by this love. |
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Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side 3
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