Gift is a Japaneseadultvisual novel developed by Moonstone and released on May 27, 2005 for Windows. The original game was a collaboration project where the company Circus helped to produce it, though Moonstone did the majority of the work involved. Gift is Moonstone's fourth title, and was followed up with an adult fan disc called Gift Rainbow-colored Stories released on January 27, 2006 for Windows. It was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. The gameplay in Gift follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the five female main characters. The story revolves around Haruhiko Amami, a male high school student living in a town where a rainbow is always seen in the sky. The game premiered as the second best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of its release, and charted in the national top 50 three more times afterwards. A set of five drama CDs, one for each heroine, was released by Lantis between September 2005 and February 2006. There have been six light novels written, a five-chapter illustrated story series that serialized in the Dengeki Hime magazine, two Internet radio shows produced, along with a manga series serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen magazine Comptiq between January 2006 and February 2007. A 12-episode anime adaptation, produced by Oriental Light and Magic, aired in Japan between October and December 2006.
Gameplay
The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that will appear 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 he or she is given the chance to 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
Gift is a story that revolves around high school student Haruhiko Amami and his strong connection to Gift's mysterious power. The town of Narasakicho, where Gift's story takes place, has two distinguishing characteristics: a rainbow that seems permanently fixed in the sky no matter the weather, and an ability known as Gift possessed by all its inhabitants. Gift's power can only be evoked by each person once in a lifetime, and is able to grant a single miracle. To be successful, a Gift must reflect the shared feelings of both the giver and the receiver. If the feelings are not mutual, the Gift is distorted and has the ability to wreak havoc on the surrounding area. When this happens, a black streak appears in the rainbow above town until Gift is used correctly. The story begins as Haruhiko's younger sister, Riko Fukimine, returns home after several years away. Beginning with her appearance, Haruhiko's life starts to change very quickly and feelings of the past begin to surface once more.
Koizumi Hotaru managed the production of Gift, and Lantis, a Japanese company that specializes in the music industry, also cooperated with production. Characters in the game were designed by the following; Mitha, Koma Miyama, and Misuzu Takano. Gift's art was illustrated by Amerika Tamugi, Yuu Touka, and Karuya Yuka, with the addition of character designers Mitha, Koma, and Misuzu. Shigezo Tsuchiyama handled the programming for Gift, and Kure worked as the scenario planner. Gift was first introduced to the public in Japan as a limited edition version on May 27, 2005 as a DVD playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. The regular edition was released on June 10, 2005, also as a DVD, and then another version was released on December 16, 2005 as a CD-ROM. A fandisc called Gift Rainbow-colored Stories was released on January 27, 2006 as a CD-ROM. A version for the PlayStation 2 with adult content removed, called Gift: Prism, was developed by Sweets and released in Japan on October 19, 2006 in limited and regular editions. This PS2 version has added CGs to replace the adult scenes and also has added three additional heroines that the protagonist can pursue in addition to the original five. The PS2 game was re-released on August 9, 2007 at a lower price. An iOS edition of the PS2 version was released on April 16, 2009. A PlayStation Portable version by CyberFront was released on February 2, 2012.
Adaptations
Print media
A five-part illustrated story series was serialized in MediaWorks'Dengeki Hime magazine between the February and June 2005 issues. Each issue focused on a different Gift heroine. A light novel series based on the game comprising five volumes was published by Harvest. Each of the novels covers one of the five heroines starting with Riko, and going through with Kirino, Rinka, Chisa, and Yukari, in that order. The first novel was released on December 25, 2005, and the final novel was released on May 1, 2006. The novels were written by Japanese author Mako Komao, with accompanied illustrations provided by Mugi Komeda, Mitha, Koma Miyama, and Mamoru Naruse. A separate light novel called Gift Prism: Over the Rainbow was written by Hiroshi Sukeno; the novel's front illustration was by Mitha, and Yukiwo worked as the main illustrator. It was published by Kadokawa Shoten on November 7, 2006. Gift's manga adaptation, illustrated by Yukiwo and titled Gift: Under the Rainbow, was serialized in Kadokawa's seinen Comptiq magazine between January 10, 2006 and February 10, 2007. Two tankōbon volumes were released for the 13 chapters produced. Two art books based on Gift have been published. The first of these was a 39-page long fan book titled Gift First Fan Book, which was published by Broccoli in May 2005. A 111-page art book, titled Gift Artworks was published by MediaWorks on August 1, 2006.
A vocal mini album was released by Lantis for the visual novel Gift on July 7, 2005, containing eight tracks. Lantis released an original soundtrack for Gift fan disc Gift Rainbow-colored Stories on January 12, 2006, titled Gift - Niji-Iro Stories 'Seven Color Ribbon', containing 25 tracks. Two albums from the anime were published by Lantis. The first of these is Gift ~eternal rainbow~ Character Song Mini Album, which comprises five different character songs for each of the heroines. An original soundtrack for the anime was released on January 24, 2007, containing 38 tracks. There are five drama CDs based on the series published by Lantis. Each of the CDs covers one of the five heroines starting with Riko, and going through with Kirino, Chisa, Rinka, and Yukari, in that order. The first CD was released on September 22, 2005, and the final CD was released on February 22, 2006. Lantis Net Radio has hosted two Gift-related shows: Gift Rainbow Station, and Gift Rainbow Homeroom. The two radio shows feature different on-air personalities.
Anime
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, titled Gift: Eternal Rainbow, was produced by Oriental Light and Magic and directed by Shigeru Kimiya. It aired in Japan between October 6 and December 22, 2006. The opening theme is "Niji Iro Sentimental" by Miyuki Hashimoto and the ending theme is "Kokoro Niji o Kakete" by Misato Fujiya. Six DVD compilations volumes were released between December 22, 2006 and May 25, 2007, each volume containing two episodes. An extra episode was released as a DVD-exclusive original video animation on June 22, 2007.
Episodes
Reception
According to a national sales ranking of bishōjo games sold in Japan, the PC release of Gift premiered at No. 2 during the second half of May 2005. Gift charted further in the rankings, ranking No. 9 in the first half of June, No. 34 in the second half, and lastly, No. 44 in the first half of July. On Getchu.com, a major redistributor of visual novel and domestic anime products, Gift ranked No. 2 in PC sales in Japan for May 2005, the month and year of its release, only falling behind the visual novel Princess Witches, which ranked first. In the following month June, the ranking fell to No. 11. In the entirety of 2005 on Getchu.com, Gift ranked No. 32. The fan disc Gift Rainbow-colored Stories, ranked first in January 2006, the month and year of its release, on Getchu.com. In the following month, the ranking fell to No. 13. For the first half of 2006, Gift Rainbow-colored Stories ranked No. 12 on Getchu.com.
