This is my new video where I talk about the history of Leaf, an adult PC developer that not only created many popular franchises (To Heart, White Album, Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara, etc) but who also pioneered the visual novel genre as we know it today and inspired a generation of creators in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Sources

1. 20 Years of Aquaplus and Future Prospects: Interview with President Naoya Shimokawa (Famitsu, 2016)
2. 2001 Fan Review of Tasogare (Mentions Akihide Takebayashi and the 552 document.)
3. 2003 Fan Review of Utawarerumono (Mentions the state of the company at the time.)
4. 2006 Fan Review of Tasogare
5. 4Gamer Interview with Maruto Fumiaki and Nakamura Takeshi (WA2 Analysis)
6. Abyss Boat by buisochan (Retro PC Games Reviews and Related Topics, 2006)
7. Akihide Takebayashi Wikipedia Page
8. Announcement of Utawarerumono (Leaf, 2001)
9. Announcement of Utawarerumono 2, Tears to Tiara II, and Jasmine (4Gamer, 2011)
10. Aqauplus English Wikipedia Page
11. Aquaplus Wikipedia Page
12. Archive of Debates about Kizuato Plagiarism on 2channel (Only 01kizuat.zip still works.)
13. Archive of Ryukishi07’s Old Blog (Talks about the beta soundtrack for Higurashi. Learned about this from a YouTube video by BaseSk8er.)
14. Article that Mentions that the Utawarerumono Series has Sold 1 Million Copies (Dengeki Online, 2022)
15. Auaplus Announcing that they are being Acquired by Yume no Sora Holdings (Aquaplus Blog, 2013)
16. Aquaplus P/ECE (vs Panic Playdate) by Matt Sephton
17. Aquaplus Appoints New CEO Minoru Noda (Gematsu, 2022)
18. Chronological Table of Leaf Key Boards
19. Bungle Bungle (The official website of Tatsuya Takahashi and Tooru Minazuki, creators of the Leaf Visual Novel Series. Contains write ups about the development of each game they worked on.)
20. Delivering the Complete Interview of 6 New Aquaplus Titles (Famistu, 2011)
21. Discussion about the original To Heart (Sisilala TV)
22. Eroge Rankings 2001-2007 (PCNews)
23. Eroge Sales Rankings 1997-2012 (Not sure how accurate the numbers are.)
24. Eroge Sales Ranking 2011 (Also not sure how accurate these numbers are.)
25. Eroge Wikipedia Page
26. Fan Site Detailing Kizuato’s Plagiarism Allegations (Has a side by side comparison with the Kizuato bonus scenario and Deki-Sugi. Also includes write-up by Tatsuya Takahashi that was included with the CD version of Kizuato where he mentions the bonus scenario.)
27. FIX Records Old Website
28. Images of Ryukishi07’s Doujinshi (FloPerfecto, Twitter)
29. Independent Production Culture as a Key to the Growth of the Game Industry by Nobushige Hichibe (2013) (Mentions Queen of Hearts sales numbers.)
30. Interview Between Naoya Shimokawa and Rensuke Oshikiri
31. Interview Between Naoya Shimokawa and Toshihiro Kondo
32. Interview with French Bread (4Gamer, 2012)
33. Interview with Hirotaka Yoshida (Yume no Sora) and Naoya Shimokawa (4Gamer, 2013)
34. Interview with Ryukishi07 (Dengeki Online, 2017) (Mentions that Leaf’s games helped him become a fan of the genre along with other titles.)
35. Interview with Tatsuya Takahashi, Tooru Minazuki, and Naoya Shimokawa (Dengeki G's Magazine, January 1999)
36. Interview with the Modern Day Owner of the AQUA Car Tuning Shop (Minkara Carview, 2012)
37. Interview with Shinji Orito (Gigazine, 2011)
38. Special Interview Playback 1995-2006 (Tech Gian, June 2006) (Interview with Naoya Shimokawa about the history of Leaf up to 2006.)
39. Key English Wikipedia Page
40. Leaf/Aquaplus Works Pages on Game Catalog Wiki
41. Leaf Fight TCG Wikipedia Page
42. Leafff Production Committee/Scenario Bureau (Leaf Key Board thread where the 552 document was leaked.)
43. Leaf Key Board Nico Nico Pedia Page
44. Leaf Key Members Discussing how Abyss Boat Arrived in the Mail from the Leaf Fan Club
45. Leaf Key Thread Talking about Abyss Boat’s Announcement
46. Leaf Key Talking about Akihide’s Passing
47. Leaf Key Board Wikipedia Page
48. Leaf Wikipedia Page
49. Leaf’s Apology Letter for Kizuato’s Bonus Scenario (News Page, Letter Itself)
50. Leaf’s Old Employee Blog (Contains posts by Tatsuya Takahashi, Akihide Takebayashi, Hisashi Kawata, Shinya Ishikawa/DOZA, and Kazuhide Nakagami.)
51. Leaf’s Old Product Page (Contains small write-ups about each game.)
52. Leaf’s Rules on Creating Doujin Works (Created in September 2000)
53. LEGAM Impressions (Mentions that U-Office did music for the company GREAT and the PC-98 game “Mission.” Also that Shimokawa worked on the music for Doki Doki Pretty League.)
54. List of Categories for Comiket 60 (“Leaf Key” is listed as 207.)
55. A Look Back at the "Sound Novel" Genre that Caused a Stir in the Industry (ITmedia, 2006)
56. Masakage Hagiya Wikipedia Page (Character designer for Magical Antique.)
57. Naoki Takahashi’s Old Website (Creator of Nscripter.)
58. Naoki Takahashi Talking about ToHeart’s Impact in October 1999
59. Naoya Shimokawa Wikipedia Page
60. Naoya Shimokawa's Early Music Credits
61. News Post about Leaf Moving to Osaka
62. P/ECE Preview (Game Watch, 2001)
63. P/ECE Website (Old Website)
64. P/ECE Wikipedia Page
65. Photo of an Article from MegaStore Gimix Magazine Talking about To Heart’s Launch (nyalra, Twitter)
66. Poll that Asked Readers which Bishoujo Game got them into the Genre (NSFW) (BugBug, 2022)
67. Ryukishi07’s Old Blog: 2004/08/12 (Mentions that his first doujin work was Magical Antique cards for Leaf Fight TCG in 2001.)
68. Shinji Orito's Early Music Credits
69. Studio Aqua Website
70. Takahashi and Minazuki ‘s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Group
71. Tatsuya Takahashi Tweeting about how ToHeart got Approved by Sony for the PS1
72. Tatsuya Takahashi Tweeting about Making a Doujin Managa with Minazuki
73. Tatsuya Takahashi Tweeting about When he Joined Leaf
74. Tatsuya Takahashi’s Blog Post about Akihide Takebayashi’s Passing
75. Tenerezza Preview and Interview with Naoya Shimokawa and Kaname Kosuga (Famitsu Xbox, November 2002)
76. The Essence of ToHeart2: ToHeart2 Official Guidebook
77. Tech Gian September 1997 Sales Ranking (NSFW)
78. Tech Gian November 1998 Character Popularity Poll (NSFW)
79. TINAMIX INTERVIEW SPECIAL: Leaf's Tatsuya Takahashi & Woodal Harada (TinaMix, 2000)
80. To Heart Visual Fun Book
81. To Heart Wikipedia Page
82. ToHeart2 Website (Mentions that the PS2 game sold 100,000 copies.)
83. Toranoana Interview with Ryukishi07 from 2004 (Talks about making cards for Leaf Fight TCG.)
84. Type-Moon Interview Conducted by Mandarake (Translated by Tsuki-kan) (Nasu mentions that ToHeart on the PS1, along with One and Kanon, introduced him to “love games”.)
85. Utawarerumono: Chiriyuku Mono e no Komoriuta Video Interview (Original source)
86. Utawarerumono: Interview with the Creators (7 Nights Translations)
87. Video that Dramatically Retells the Drama Surrounding the Leaf Key Baord
88. Watanabe Seisakusho’s Website
89. Website for “Leafff” (The fan game that lead to the 552 leak.)
90. WHITE ALBUM Official Art Book (1999)
91. Wine FIX Website

Helpful Resources

• Doujinshi Dot Org (I used this site to research Ryukishi07’s early work but it longer seems to be online.)
• Game Catalog: From Masterpieces to Kusoge Wiki
• Scans of Japanese Game Magazines on the Internet Archive (BugBug, Comptiq, Dengeki G’s, Dengeki PlayStation, Famitsu Xbox, and Tech Gian).
• Visual Novel Database (Especially all the credit information on each of Leaf’s games.)

Other Information

• Article about the Production of Mask of Deception’s Music (Part 1, Part 2)
• AQUAPAZZA Interview (4Gamer, 2011)
• Aquaplus Festa 2007
• Aquaplus Festa / Live 2008
• Aquaplus managed a few “Toriaezu Gohei” and “Gyu-Kaku” restaurant franchises in the Hyogo and Osaka prefectures. However, they no longer seem to operate these restaurants.
• I didn’t mention this in the video but Naoya Shimokawa’s father, Ryuji Shimokawa, served as Aqauplus’s CEO for several years before Naoya became the president (not sure on the dates). Also, in 2022, Minoru Noda became the company’s CEO and now Naoya Shimokawa is the COO.
• The two manga pages at the 31 minute mark are from “DcompleX” by Raita Honjou and “Pico-Pico Boy” by Rensuke Oshikiri.

3rd-Party Footage

• 2004 Japanese Commercials
• Akihabara Geeks Documentary (2005)
• Aquaplus Piece (HarukuriaPaluku, Youtube)
• Collection of TV commercials for PS1 and PS2
• Comiket 56 Footage
• Comiket December 1998 Footage (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
• Densha Otoko 2005 TV Show
• Footage of Akihide Takebayashi’s Bonus Story from Kizuato (14:00-16:54)
• Multi’s Going Out Opening
• PS3 Baby Commercial
• Tears to Tiara Aquaplus Interview with President Shimokawa
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Gameplay (Ryoko_UK, YouTube)
• Toranoana Animated Commercial
• Windows 95 CM
• Xbox JP CM

Plus official trailers created by Leaf/Aqauplus and Atlus USA.