The Fruit of Grisaia is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Yūji Kazami. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. The text in the game is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Yūji 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. The Fruit of Grisaia 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 five main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each heroine. 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, which 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. Throughout gameplay, there are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Yūji and a given heroine having sex.
Yūji Kazami transfers to Mihama Academy, a school with only five female students and prison-like features. Every student in the school has their own "circumstances" for being there, but Yūji is not required to do anything about their situation as he asked for a normal student life.
Main characters
Yūji Kazami (風見 雄二, Kazami Yūji)
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (anime), Ayaka Suwa (child)
The protagonist of
Grisaia. Ace number 9029, Yūji is a hit man working for a Japanese government agency, executing black ops missions. Tired of his aimless life, he wanted to live a normal school life. Cool, philosophical, and minimalist, Yūji is a realist with above average intelligence. Being very cautious, he always plans and scouts before action. Other than his occasional unorthodox military methods, he is just a fit young man. He disguises himself as an "exchange student from Canada".
Yumiko Sakaki (榊 由美子, Sakaki Yumiko)
Voiced by: Ryōko Tanaka (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Hikaru Isshiki in the PC version
A second-year student of Mihama Academy, the daughter of "East Beach Railway Express Group" tycoon. Mihama Academy was established for her and she was the first student to enroll. Her defining feature is her waist-length black hair. Because of her bluntness and a hard-to-please personality, she often comes into conflict with the other characters. Due to her past, she tends to stay by herself and hardly tries to get along with others. She always carries a box cutter with her and uses it to threaten others, particularly Yūji, when she gets angry. She spends much of her free time reading, especially mystery novels, which has led the others to call her a bookworm. Although Yumiko typically acts as a lady, her favorite dishes are junk foods such as fried soba noodles. She later develops feelings for Yūji after he "saves" her from her family ties and depression making her more cheerful than before. She admits her feelings for Yūji quite later in the series unlike other girls who were honest from the get go.
Amane Suou (周防 天音, Suō Amane)
Voiced by: Hiroko Taguchi (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Sora Yukimi in the PC version
A third-year student of Mihama Academy, the Onee-san type who always takes care of others. She is known as Makina's "mom". Due to her circumstances, she skipped a year of school year at her previous school, so she is actually 2 years older than Yūji. She is tall and has a well-developed body with which she tries to seduce Yūji. Her family manages a long-established restaurant in Ginza, so she is good at cooking. Because of her mother is from Kyoto, whenever she gets excited, or when she panics, her speech takes on a Kansai dialect. She is deeply interested in cars and has acquired a motorcycle license. Amane also has a dirt bike which was remodeled to a cruiser called "Bobatarō"
(ボバ太郎) and was put in the garage of the Academy. She develops feelings for Yūji out of the guilt that she left Yūji's sister back and ran away to save herself in the accident in which Yūji's sister was believed to be dead.
Michiru Matsushima (松嶋 みちる, Matsushima Michiru)
Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Urara Hani in the PC version
A second-year student of Mihama Academy, Michiru is a fake tsundere with bleached blond twin tails and dissociative identity disorder. She has a deep interest in tsundere characters and tries to act like one. Her silly and energetic personality makes her the moodmaker of the class. Her grades are bad. She always carries with her a shark-shaped pouch which contains lemonade sweets. Despite having difficulty with sour foods, she still tries to drink 100% pure vitamin C in order to "improve her intelligence", as Michiru has said. She has encountered a lot of bad luck since her birth, but has always managed to get through in one way or another. Michiru also appears as the main character in the all-ages spin-off game titled
Idol Mahō Shōjo Chiru Chiru Michiru. She develops feelings for Yūji after he gives her a new opportunity to relive her life.
Makina Irisu (入巣 蒔菜, Irisu Makina)
Voiced by: Tomoe Tamiyasu (PC, PSP & anime)
A first-year student of Mihama Academy, Makina is an innocent and carefree girl with a hard to understand personality. In general, she can be explained in one word, "Fool", but sometimes her speech and behavior make people shed cold sweat. For those reasons, most of people who talk with her for five minutes will say "This girl is awful". She adores Yūji as a brother and Amane as a sister. She calls Yūji "Onii-chan". Although she has her own room in the dormitory, she always stays in Amane’s room. She always wears knee-socks with two different colors. Because of her parents' work, she stayed in foreign countries until she was six so she can speak English and other languages well. Her family is rumored to be a large financial clique which controls the underworld of Japan. People are unaware of the unhappiness which she suffered for being born in such a troublesome family. Makina used to be the successor of Irisu family but her inheritance was transferred to her younger sister, Irisu Sarina, after she suffered a mental shock in an accident. Despite all of that, she still has 70 million yen as her own property. She later uses that money to "buy" Yūji as her guardian/"papa".
Sachi Komine (小嶺 幸, Komine Sachi)
Voiced by: Ai Shimizu (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Mikasa Okamura in the PC version
A first-year student of Mihama Academy, Sachi is the maid of Mihama Academy. She always wears her maid outfit except when going to school, taking a bath or swimming. She does so because some people once told her to wear maid uniform as much as possible. Polite and with a strong sense of responsibility, there are only 3 words in her action dictionary, "receive", "confirm" and "execute". Because of this, she always tries to accomplish whatever has been asked of her, even if it was said as a joke, which has resulted in trouble. Her favorite animal is the shark and she made the shark-shaped pouch which Michiru carries around with her. She's also Yūji's childhood friend which Yūji remembers a bit later in the series.
Chizuru Tachibana (橘 千鶴, Tachibana Chizuru)
Voiced by: Natsumi Yanase (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Izumi Maki in the PC version
The only daughter of a prefectural governor and the principal of Mihama Academy. Yūji saved her life, when she was taken as a hostage. Because of that, when Yūji told her that he wanted to have a normal school life, she offered him the chance to enroll to Mihama academy. Sometimes, she is mistaken for a junior school girl due to her young figure. She is about 30 and is still a virgin. She has a habit of speaking very quickly and stuttering when lying.
Yuria Harudera (春寺 由梨亜, Harudera Yuria, Julia Bardera; JB)
Voiced by: Erika Narumi (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Suzune Kusunoki in the PC version
Yūji's guardian and work boss. Her former name is Julia Bardera which is why Yūji calls her JB. She changed her name after moving to Japan. Though she looks like American, she is of mixed German and Italian descent. She has a yellow Ferrari. She is one of the few people aware of Yūji's past from the beginning as she was with Yūji's guardian and over the course of long time developed feelings for him. Yūji although seems to get irritated around her is actually quite fond of her and is grateful to her for helping him out in many ways.
Kazuki Kazami (風見 一姫, Kazami Kazuki)
Voiced by: Akane Tomonaga (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Yukari Aoyama in the PC version
Yūji's elder sister. Despite her small stature, she has a genius-level intellect. Kazuki attended "Takizono Private Academy" with Amane and both of them were on the school basketball team. She 'died' in an accident which greatly influenced Yūji and Amane's future lives. Although she is Yūji's sister she has feelings for Yūji and has indulged in many incest relationships with him when they were younger such as taking intimate baths and sharing lip kisses. She was the only one who truly cared for and loved Yūji in her household which made her question every relation Yūji had with the outside world so as to protect him from any harm or ill activities and relationships with others.
Asako Kusakabe (日下部 麻子, Kusakabe Asako)
Voiced by: Kei Mizusawa (PC, PSP & anime), credited as Rino Kawashima in the PC version (
Meikyū and
Rakuen)
The woman whom Yūji called "Master". She took charge of raising Yūji after his parents died. Although quite older than Yūji and being his guardian she has indulged in sexual relationships with Yūji in the excuse of teaching him how to handle women. It was due to her only that JB lost her virginity to Yūji. She had died one and a half years before Yūji enrolled to Mihama Academy. After her death, her friend, JB, became Yūji's guardian. Yūji once said "She had a rough personality". Yūji buried her in the mountains in Yamanashi Prefecture near where they used to live.
Michiaki Sakaki (榊 道昭, Sakaki Michiaki)
Voiced by: Kyōsuke Suzuki (PC), Matsuki Nobuhito (PSP), Eizo Tsuda (anime)
Yumiko's father, the leader of the "East Beach Electric Railway Group" financial zaibatsu and the chief director of Mihama Academy. He wanted Yumiko to return to his business firm and become the rightful heir although Yumiko was not interested in it. Yumiko with Yūji and his acquaintances played out an act which made Michiaki believe that Yumiko committed suicide.
Chiara Farrell (キアラ・ファレル, Kiara Fareru)
Voiced by: Chika Sakuragi (PC), Akane Tsukigase (PSP, anime)
A staff member of the information section of the "Company", JB's assistant and junior. She is very interested in Yūji. Apparently, she is two-thirds Japanese and one-third of African descent, hence her tanned complexion.
The game was first released for Windows on February 25, 2011. A PlayStation Portable version was released on February 21, 2013. The PSP version removes explicit sex scenes, but adds a new story, updated graphics, and additional voices. An upgraded PlayStation Vita version was released in August 2013 in Japan. There are two sequels for Windows to The Fruit of Grisaia: Grisaia no Meikyuu: Le Labyrinthe de la Grisaia (グリザイアの迷宮 -LE LABYRINTHE DE LA GRISAIA-) released on February 24, 2012 and Grisaia no Rakuen: Le Eden de la Grisaia (グリザイアの楽園 -LE EDEN DE LA GRISAIA-) released on May 24, 2013. A spin-off parody game of Grisaia no Kajitsu, titled Grisaia no Kajitsu Spin-out!? Idol Magical Girl Chiruchiru Michiru (グリザイアの果実スピンアウト!? アイドル魔法少女ちるちる☆みちる, Grisaia no Kajitsu Supinauto!? Aidoru Mahō Shōjo Chiruchiru Michiru), was released for Windows in 2014 (part one released in August, and part two in December). It was ported to the PlayStation Vita on June 25, 2015, and features an original story on how Michiru becomes a magical girl tasked with the job of saving the world. Sekai Project acquired the rights to release an English version of the Grisaia trilogy as well as the spinoff game Idol Magical Girl Chiruchiru Michiru which they funded via Kickstarter in December 2014. An English port of the PlayStation Vita version of The Fruit of Grisaia was released on Steam on May 29, 2015.
A manga adaptation titled The Fruit of Grisaia: Sanctuary Fellows (グリザイアの果実 サンクチュアリ フェローズ, Grisaia no Kajitsu: Sankuchuari Ferōzu), written by Eiji Narumi and illustrated by Shū Hirose, began serialization in Akita Shoten's Champion Red Ichigo magazine with volume 36 released on February 5, 2013. The first tankōbon volume was released on December 20, 2013; three volumes have been released as of September 19, 2014. A second manga titled The Fruit of Grisaia: L'Oiseau bleu (グリザイアの果実 〜L'Oiseau bleu〜), written by Jun'ichi Fujisaku and illustrated by Taka Himeno, was serialized in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Blade magazine between the May and September 2014 issues. Following the magazine's discontinuation, the manga continued serialization in Mag Garden's Comic Garden magazine with the October 2014 issue. The first tankōbon volume was released on September 10, 2014.
A 13-episode anime television series adaptation, animated by 8-Bit, produced by NBCUniversal, and directed by Tensho, aired in Japan between October 5 and December 28, 2014 on AT-X. The screenplay is written by Hideyuki Kurata, character designs and chief animation direction are handled by Akio Watanabe, and Elements Garden composed the music. Six anime shorts were released with the DVD and Blu-ray Disc compilation volumes released between December 25, 2014 and May 27, 2015. The anime has been licensed for digital and home video release by Sentai Filmworks in North America. Sequentially, 8-Bit and NBCUniversal produced two follow-ups. A 47-minute anime television film adaptation of Le Labyrinthe de la Grisaia aired on April 12, 2015, and a 10-episode anime adaptation of Le Eden de la Grisaia aired between April 19 and June 21, 2015. They have also been licensed for digital and home video release by Sentai Filmworks.
The Fruit of Grisaia has six pieces of theme music: one opening theme and five ending themes. The opening theme is "Shūmatsu no Fractal" (終末のフラクタル, "Fractal of the End") by Faylan. Each heroine has her own ending theme, starting with Yumiko's theme "Holograph" (ホログラフ) by Eufonius. Amane's theme is "Home" by Miyuki Hashimoto. Michiru's theme is "Skip" by Chata. Makina's theme is "Mayoi no Mori" (迷いの森, "Lost Forest") by Hiromi Satō. Sachi's theme is "Kono Hi no Mama de" (この日のままで) by Nana. The single for "Shūmatsu no Fractal", which also contains "Happy Soul Dance", was released on January 26, 2011.
The anime's opening theme is "Rakuen no Tsubasa" (楽園の翼, "Wing of Paradise") by Maon Kurosaki, and the main ending theme is "Anata no Aishita Sekai" (あなたの愛した世界, "The World That You Loved") by Yoshino Nanjō. Additional ending themes include "Eden's Song" by Hana used in episode two, "Skip" used in episode five, and "Sōsei no Tanatosu" (創世のタナトス, "Thanatos of the Genesis") by Faylan was used in episode thirteen. Several ending themes from the game included as insert songs are also used in the anime such as "Holograph" in episode six and "Lost Forest" in episode nine.
In the 2011 Moe Game Awards, The Fruit of Grisaia was awarded the Grand Prize, as well as the Gold Prizes for Scenario, User's Choice, Theme Song, and True Love. The judges highly praised the story for its balancing of seriousness with comedy. The PlayStation Portable version sold 3,700 units in the first week, making it the second best-selling PSP title in Japan that week. Famitsu rated it 30 out of 40.
Operation Rainfall rated The Fruit of Grisaia a score of 5/5, with reviewer Chris Melchin writing that "[if you] like visual novels and romance, I see no reason not to check out The Fruit of Grisaia if you haven’t already."
