Koukou Kyoushi: Memories of Summer (High School Teacher: Memories of Summer)

Yamashina Shiroh is a high school teacher of physics in a private boys' school, which has just let out for summer vacation. Many attractive men and boys appear around Shiroh: former students, fellow teachers, a neighbor... Can Shiroh find a love over the summer vacation, or perhaps regain the memories of a past summer romance he's long forced from his mind?

Yamashina Shiroh - The main character of the game. A high school teacher who teaches physics in a private boys' school. He's single, a heavy smoker, and enjoys his motorbike and computers. He is obliging and good-natured, and likes to help those who are in trouble or suffering misfortune. His good looks and positive atmosphere make it easy for him to be anyone's friend. He has lost all contact with his elder brother, who is his only blood relation, and lives alone in an apartment.

Mashiba Ryoichi - A fellow teacher who is teaching Japanese history at the same high school as Shiroh. He is good friends with Shiroh, and is happy to see him during summer vacation. He keeps a youthful demeanor while still acting mature.

Kimizuka Satoshi - The school physician of the high school where Shiroh works. He is quiet, but is likeable and trusted by most, though Shiroh sees a weakness in him.

Katsuragi Kohji - The English teacher at the neighboring junior high school. He's the son of a local distinguished family, and lives in a high-class apartment by himself. He has a sense of elegance, well-mannered, and being soft-spoken, but within his beauty lies a darker side.

Arima Yuzuru - One of Shiroh's former students. He seems to have had some trouble recently, and appears somewhat sad or absent-minded. Shiroh wants to help him stay out of trouble during the summer vacation.

Nanase Keisuke - One of Shiroh's former students. The son of a wealthy family and currently under school truancy. His parent's cannot be contacted easily because of the absenteeism, so Shiroh is keeping an eye on him. He is very selfish, since he has been spoiled his whole life.

Izumi Taku - One of Shiroh's former students. A genius with a very serious attitude. He is already expected to be a success at Tokyo Institute of Technology, where Shiroh attended college. Well-respected by the teachers.

Kurosu Maki - One of Shiroh's former students. He is the image of delinquincy: he often gets in fights, drinks, and smokes, and is an overall headache for Shiroh. He comes from a motherless family and doesn't seem to have a good relationship with his father, either. He enjoys riding his motorbike.

Satake Yuuya - The captain of the rugby team in which Shiroh is the adviser. He got into the high school via athletic recommendation, and is expected to enter college the same way. Very popular among the rest of the team. He is the awkward type and keeps his troubles to himself.

Hamura Reiji - The manager of the rugby team. He has a heart disease, and therefore isn't that good in sports. He feels a little jealous of Yuuya because of this, but they still remain close friends.

Andoh Hideki - A second year student at the neighboring junior high school. Shiroh knows him, and has become a little attached to him. He's a bright boy who enjoys games, and is also a little selfish and childlike.

Mimasaka Akio - The systems engineer of a major electrical equipment manufacturer and a past sweetheart of Shiroh, when they used to share an apartment together while going to school. A man blessed with many talents, his subordinates adore him and his intense charismic nature.

Fujita Katsumi - A younger generation of the university days of Shiroh and Akio. Has finished university and now attends a graduate school, continuing his research. A very serious and earnest person who secretly adored Shiroh when he was a student. People know little about him because he spends all his time in the laboratory.

Ikushima Kazuya - Lives next door to the apartment where Shiroh lives. Although he is an illustrator, he has not worked in a while. He enjoys cooking. A mild and homely person.

Serizawa Masahiko - A ronin who doesn't really have the interest to try to get into a college. He'd rather spend his time at the Game Center. He is very social and doesn't get shy around strangers, and is always the optimist. He lives in Boroa by himself. His hobby is mechanics.

Hayami Tohru - Becomes aquainted with Shiroh over the internet, and they meet for the first time later off the computer. He loves computers and has an interest in computer graphics. He lives alone in a modern apartment.

Mizukura Makoto - Met by a chance meeting in town. Although he is an ordinary college student in the daytime, at night he the works at a gay bar. Behind his beauty and charmingly evil spirit hides an intellectual who reads French philosophy.

Asai Hiroyuki - An engineer who works for a major electrical equipment manufacturer, Nikko. He is an ardent admirer of his boss, Akio Mimasaka. He notices Shiroh's homosexuality and tries to take advantage of that fact.

Yamashina Takuroh - Shiroh's elder brother. Although he is his only blood relation, he and Shiroh have not contacted each other in years. He is in a merit group that succeeded his father's foundation, and he is trying to distinguish himself in the politics of the Diet. The connection with his brother remains a mystery of the past...

Haibara Natsuki - Kimitsuka's old friend. A surgeon with a gifted arm, he gets jealous over Kimitsuka, and files a sexual harassment act. He seems cheerful and exciteable, but really only cares about his own needs.

Ayano - The mama of the gay bar where Makoto works. A mysterious person who's beauty hides their gender and age. "Her" store is very popular, visited even by important and famous figures.

One - Leader of the "Blue Roses." He knows Shiroh and uses him as a contact to his advantage.

35 - One of "Blue Roses", a local gang. In the gang, everyone is numbered, showing their rank and class, respectively.

Zero - A mysterious boy with a wonderful atmosphere. He will appear, if the correct conditions are met.

Koukou Kyoushi: Memories of Summer is a scenerio-style simulation game. You move from location to location, meeting characters along the way. If you bump into a character, you will then talk with the character or an event will occur, sometimes even resulting in a CG (though there is no option to view previewing gained CGs, which is a little upsetting). The story advances depending on who you meet and what responses you make.

The game takes place from 8/14 to 8/31 -- the length of a typical Japanese summer vacation. On August 31, you will get an ending based on the turns you took within the story. There are sixteen character endings available, an impressive count compared to many boys' love games, or you may not win anyone at all. It all depends on if you hit the right events at the right time.

The gameplay is controlled entirely by making text selections. You begin the game in your apartment, where you have four options: Move, Sleep, Schedule, and System. Move lets to move about the game area to different locations, Sleep lets you pass time by sleeping, Schedule lets you see your schedule for the summer, and System lets you load games or exit the game. The main command is the Move command, as then you can move from your apartment to different areas: the shopping district, the neighborhood, the district around your high school, ect. Within each area will be other areas, such as the high school and junior high within the school district, or a park within the neighborhood area. As you move to different areas, you will pass time through the day, until 1:00 a.m. in which you must return home. The object is to hopefully "run into" characters at a certain time/location in order to get events. The events are often in a "chain reaction": you can't get one event unless you've gotten a previous one with that character, so it's a matter of figuring out when and where you must go in order to get all the events to win a character.

The play isn't too difficult, as it's pretty easy to "memorize" the different movement options and where they take you for someone who can't read Japanese. The harder part is selecting the correct options when talking with characters, as the option you pick can have a major outcome on whether you will get an occurance with that character later or not, and this can be a bit tricky without being able to read Japanese. It also is a bit chancey whether you will be in the right place at the right time, and it can get frusterating when you can't figure out the proper triggers to win a character. Definitely a game that would be nice to have a "capture" sheet for, but thus far I have yet to find one, as it is a doujin game that isn't all that popular. Having sixteen endings is impressive, but when you can't figure out how to get them, it can get annoying.

As far as technical issues, I found this game a bit tricky to run on Windows XP running Japanese text. The game is designed for Windows 95/98, and therefore if you are on Windows XP, you will need to use Compatibility Mode to run the game.

To install the game, right click the .exe install file and go down to "Properties," then click the "Compatibility" tab and set it to "Windows 95" like in the picture below.

To get the game to run, I had to do several things. First, make sure your system is set to 16-bit color. If I set my color higher or lower, I got an error message trying to execute the file. Right-click on the Desktop and go to "Properties," then click the "Settings" tab and under Color Quality set it to "Medium 16 bit."

Then go to the .exe file that runs the game, right click it, and also set the compatibility mode on it just like with the install file. Right click the .exe file and go down to "Properties," then click the "Compatibility" tab and set it to "Windows 95", and also check the box "Run in 640x480 Resolution."

It would not run for me until I had done all these things. Afterwards the game played fine, except I never could save my game: if I tried I got an error and it crashed. That meant I had to play an entire game through at once, which doesn't take /too/ long, but it makes back-tracking options impossible. Though I have not tried it, it will likely play on Japanese Windows 95 or 98 fine.

AGTH Compatibility - Koukou Kyoushi: Memories of Summer is compatible with Anime Games Text Hooker. You must add the /kf1:200 parameter. However, since the game must run in 640x480 full-screen through Compatibility Mode, trying to also view the Quick Atlas window is very difficult, and can cause some lag and lockups, and is therefore really more trouble than it is worth.

Koukou Kyoushi: Memories of Summer is not a very high-quality game, but that is typically the case of doujin games. Some doujin games, admittedly, can be rather mind-blowing considering they weren't made with a company budget, but this wouldn't be one of them.

On the positive side, though, the game is good for replay value, as it has sixteen characters you can win, which is a rather large number compared to many boys' love games. It also has a very simple, straight-forward gameplay style that even a fumbling American who can't read Japanese can figure their way around. After one game through, the navigation of the areas is down in your mind, and then you only have to contend with the multiple options when talking with characters.

However, the game really is quite the cheap doujin game. The backdrops are photographs, and the characters and CGs don't have a "game" look, they look just like amateur art. It also doesn't have that many CGs, it would have been much nicer to include more for each character: the downside to having such a large cast is that there is only one or two CGs per winable character, and there isn't any option to view the CGs you have won.

You can give the game a try and it'll cure your boredom for a few hours, but don't expect to get blown away. Without a very enticing story, cast, or art, there isn't much to hold your interest for very long, and you probably won't find yourself battling with the different options to try to get full capture. For a doujin game, it is fairly decent, but when it comes down to it, whether a game is commericial or doujin, there has to be something to bring some kind of interest to playing it. This game probably won't spark much interest.

CyberGeo's Official Koukou Kyoushi: Memories of Summer Site (Japanese) - The company's site with information on the game.

Aohane Chonaikai (Japanese) - A fan site with a message board with capture information, a chat room, pictures of early character sketches, links to review sites, and other game-related content.

Disclaimer: All written text and capture guides © Boys' Love Games Headquarters. All pictures and downloads are copyright of their respective companies and artists and are for promotional use only. I am in no way claiming the art as my own, nor am I trying to infringe upon the company's rights. I am trying to promote these games by allowing a foreign audience to see some artwork from the game.