Your Diary (visual novel)

 is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Cube, a brand of Cuffs. It was originally released on September 30, 2011 for Microsoft Windows. Later, Alchemist ported the game without the erotic content to the PlayStation Portable. "Your Diary" will be released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The story revolves around Tomoki Nagamine, who has feelings for an upperclassman named Sayuki Ayase. Upon receiving a diary from the library manager, he is informed by Yua that all of his happiest memories will be recorded in the diary.
The gameplay of "Your Diary" follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the four female main characters by the player character. The game ranked as the third best-selling bishōjo game at the time of its release. It received a manga adaptation which serialized in Hakusensha's "Young Animal Island" between volumes 19 and 24.
Gameplay.
"Your Diary" is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Tomoki Nagamine. Much of its gameplay is spent reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents the story's narrative and dialogue. The text is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Tomoki is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. "Your Diary" follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.
There are four main plot lines in the original Windows release that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. Some decisions can lead the game to end prematurely and offer an alternative ending to the plot. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. In adult versions of the game, there are scenes depicting Tomoki and a given heroine having sex.
Plot.
Story.
Tomoki Nagamine attempts to confess his love to an upperclassman named Sayuki Ayase; however, he does not succeed in doing so, being caught off by a sad expression on her face. In the meantime, he works alongside his crush Sayuki in the library committee. One day, after wandering into a seemingly-abandoned library, the library manager Misuzu gives Tomoki a diary called "Your Diary", telling him that the book chose him. A cute girl introducing herself as Yua—who is the goddess of happiness—comes bursting out of the book and informs Tomoki that all his happiest memories will be recorded in his diary. The story mostly revolves around Tomoki interacting with the four heroines (in later versions, seven) and eventually forming a romantic relationship with one.
Development and release.
"Your Diary" is the second title developed by Cube. The game was planned to have fantasy elements incorporated in, unlike Cube's previous visual novel "Natsu no Ame", which was thought by staff to be quite a realistic story. The scenario was written by Inori Tanemura and Airu Minamoto. In "Your Diary+" and "Your Diary+H", Ryoichi Futaba assisted in writing the screenplay. Character designs were drawn by Kantoku, who is best known for his illustrations in the light novel series "The "Hentai" Prince and the Stony Cat"; the super deformed (SD) art was by Suimya. Lastly, the game was directed by Naoto Sakura.
"Your Diary" was first released on September 30, 2011 in limited edition for Microsoft Windows, containing the game itself and coming bundled with a soundtrack CD as an extra bonus. A regular edition, with different package art, was released on July 27, 2012. Alchemist released an all-ages version under the title "Your Diary+" for the PlayStation Portable on November 28, 2013; the limited edition release comes with a maxi single. "Your Diary+" introduces a new heroine, and two sub-characters are promoted to heroines. An updated version of "Your Diary+" with added H-content was released for Microsoft Windows under the title "Your Diary+H" on May 30, 2014. A vocal CD comes bundled with "+H"'s limited release. Hobibox released an English and Chinese-translated version of the game on August 10, 2018, which is playable on Steam. On June 27, 2019, "Your Diary+" was released simultaneously on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles by Entergram.
Related media.
Manga.
A manga adaptation based on "Your Diary", drawn by illustrator Sō Hamayumiba, was serialized between volumes 19 and 24 of Hakusensha's "Young Animal Island" sold between June 29, 2012 and September 27, 2013. Alongside the final issue (No. 24) of "Young Animal Island", a single tankōbon volume () was released under the Jets Comics imprint. The manga continued serialization in volume 1 of "Young Animal Innocent" sold on March 19, 2014, but the manga has been unfinished ever since. Ever Glory Publishing has licensed the manga and released a volume in Taiwanese on May 28, 2014.
Music and audio CDs.
"Your Diary" features music by Duca, who performs the opening theme, , and ending theme, . "Your Diary+" replaces the original opening and ending themes with and . "Your Diary+H" employs Duca's "Wishing You" as an image song.
The game's original soundtrack titled "Your's Sound Diary CD" came bundled with the limited edition release of "Your Diary", containing background music (BGM) tracks and game-size versions of the opening and ending theme. A maxi single titled "Your Diary+ Vocal CD" comes bundled with the consumer port's limited edition release, containing the songs used in "Your Diary+". A vocal CD titled "Your's Songs Diary CD" was released with the limited edition of "+H", and contained various songs from "Your Diary" sang by seiyuu. A new character song called "Platonic Syndrome", sang by Yua's seiyuu Ryōko Watanabe, was included.
Reception.
"Your Diary" ranked as the third best-selling bishōjo game at the time of its release on Getchu.com, a major redistributor of visual novel and domestic anime products. During the next month, the game ranked again at twenty one out of thirty. "Your Diary" was the twenty fourth best-selling game of the year on the website. The Japanese video game magazine "Famitsu" reviewed "Your Diary+", and gave it a total review score of 30/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 8, 8, 7, and 7). In the "Famitsu" review, Kantoku's character designs were considered to be attractive and the game's system was praised for making it easy to complete the game. "Your Diary+" was the 666th best selling video game of the year in Japan in 2013, with 5,726 units sold.