Fortune Arterial is a Japanese adultvisual novel, developed by August, released as a limited edition version on January 25, 2008 playable on WindowsPCs as a DVD. Fortune Arterial is August's fifth game, preceded by other titles such as , and Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na. A manga based on the story, drawn by Akane Sasaki, was serialized between the September 2007 and April 2008 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine; the manga transferred to ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic in April 2008. A second manga started serialization in the November 2007 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's gaming magazine Comptiq, illustrated by Miki Kodama. A 12-episode anime adaptation produced by Zexcs and Feel aired in Japan between October and December 2010.
Gameplay
The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as a majority of the game is spent simply reading text that appears on the screen. This text represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where they must choose from options that are displayed on the screen, typically two to three at a time. During these times, gameplay pauses until a choice is made that furthers the plot in a specific direction, depending on which choice the player makes. There are five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. In order to view the five plot lines to their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices during the decision points in order to further the plot in an alternate direction.
Plot
Fortune Arterial's story revolves around the male protagonist Kohei Hasekura, who transfers into a prestigious public school in the style of a Western six-year school encompassing junior-high and high school students. The school, named Shuchikan Academy, is on an island named Tamatsu Island off-shore from mainland Japan, and the only way to get there is by boat. Soon after transferring, he discovers that one of the students in the class next door to his, Erika Sendo, is in fact a type of vampire.
Characters
Main characters
;Miya Togi
Secondary characters
;Seichiro Togi ;Tsukasa Hachimandaira ;Shizuko Amaike ;Masanori Aoto ;Art Club President ;Kaya Sendo
Development
Release history
first announced the production of a new visual novel at Comiket 71, and on February 21, 2007, they made the official announcement for Fortune Arterial on their official website. The game was first introduced to the public in Japan as a limited edition version on January 25, 2008 as a DVD playable on a Microsoft WindowsPC. The regular edition followed on February 29, 2008. Kadokawa Shoten had planned on releasing a port for the PlayStation 3 and a spin-off game for the PlayStation Portable, but they later cancelled both games.
Related media
Manga
The manga adaptation, under the title Fortune Arterial Character's Prelude, was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine between the September 2007 and April 2008 issues, illustrated by Akane Sasaki. The manga transferred to Dengeki G's Festival! Comic, a special edition version of Dengeki G's Magazine, starting with the second volume sold on April 26, 2008. The first bound volume was released on June 27, 2008 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comicsimprint. A second manga, called simply Fortune Arterial, started serialization in the November 2007 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's gaming magazine Comptiq, illustrated by Miki Kodama. The first volume for the second manga was released on July 26, 2008 under Kadokawa Shoten's Kadokawa Comics Ace imprint; the sixth volume was released on February 26, 2011. Enterbrain published ten volumes of a manga anthology titled Magi-Cu 4-koma Fortune Arterial released between April 25, 2008 and February 25, 2010. Ichijinsha published three volumes of another anthology titled Fortune Arterial Comic Anthology between June 25 and October 25, 2008.
Books and publications
Harvest published a series of six eroticlight novels, each focusing on a different heroine, between June 10, 2008 and June 1, 2009. Runa Okada wrote the novels and the game's original artist Bekkankō provided the illustrations. Prior to the game's release, Enterbrain published a fan book on November 21, 2007 titled Tech Gain Super Prelude: Fortune Arterial containing information on the development of the game and information on the game itself. ASCII Media Works published a fan book on June 20, 2008 titled Fortune Arterial Perfect Visual Book.
Audio dramas
Marine Entertainment released a series of five drama CDs titled Fortune Arterial: Through the Season between August 15 and December 28, 2008. Each of the CDs covered one of the heroines and featured the same voice cast as the game. An Internet radio show titled August Broadcasting Office: Shuchikan Academy Student Council Business Trip had a pre-broadcast on August 13, 2009 and started regular biweekly broadcasts on September 10, 2009. The show is produced by Marine Entertainment and hosted by Junichi Suwabe and Rie Kanda, the voices of Iori and Erika Sendo. The first volume of a CD compilation containing the first six broadcasts was released on December 29, 2009 by Marine Entertainment.
Anime
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation titled Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku produced by Zexcs and Feel and directed by Munenori Nawa aired on TV Tokyo between October 9 and December 25, 2010 in Japan. The opening theme is "Kizunairo" by Lia and the ending theme is "I Miss You" by Veil. An original video animation episode was bundled with the limited sixth volume of Miki Kodama's manga Fortune Arterial.
Episode list
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Music
The opening theme for the Fortune Arterial visual novel is "Tobira Hiraite, Futari Mirai e" sung by Mizuho. An insert song in the game is "Akai Yakusoku" sung by Veil. A maxi single containing the opening theme and insert song was released on January 25, 2008. An image song for the game, "It's My Precious Time!", is also sung by Mizuho and a single containing the image song was released on October 25, 2007. August released the game's original soundtrack on May 30, 2008. A character song album titled Fortune Arterial Feeling Assort was released by Geneon on August 14, 2009. Shot Music released a remix album, Fortune Arterial -Omnibus Edit- P-O-P, with remixes of the game's background music and theme songs on January 29, 2010.
