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Frontwing's Sharin no Kuni Kickstarter Campaign Reaches Goal

Visual novel developer Frontwing's current Kickstarter campaign met its initial US$80,000 goal on Friday to localize and release AKABEi SOFT2's visual novel Sharin no Kuni ~The Girl Among the Sunflowers~ (Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shōjo) for Windows PC.

As of press time, the project has earned US$81,785. Frontwing launched the campaign on November 21 and it will end on December 22.

Frontwing will release a physical and digital PlayStation Vita port of the visual novel if the campaign reaches a stretch goal of US$120,000. Additionally, if the campaign reaches US$145,000, Frontwing will localize the bonus story "A Moment's Rest" and the heroine epilogues from the Sharin no Kuni, Yuukyuu no Shōnen Shōjo (Sharin no Kuni, Eternal Boys and Girls) fandisc.

Frontwing had previously launched a Kickstarter campaign for the visual novel on April 7 with the title Wheel Country, Sunflower Girl, but later canceled the project.

The visual novel's story is set in an unnamed "wheel country," where those who are considered criminals are given "obligations" to fulfill before re-entering society. These obligations take the form of absolute rules, and violation of these rules results in the person's transfer to a forced-labor camp. The individuals who can hand down these obligations are "Special High Class Individuals," a distinct stratum of society. The game's protagonist, Kenichi Morita, is undergoing his final examination to be a "Special High Class Individual," which entails that he return to his hometown and rehabilitate three former classmates, reconnecting him with a past that he had left behind.

AKABEi SOFT2 released the game on the PC in 2005, before releasing it on Xbox 360 in 2010, on PlayStation Portable in 2012, and on PlayStation 3 in 2013. Usami Wataru published a manga adaptation of the game in Kadokawa and ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh magazine from 2008 to 2011. Kadokawa published three compiled book volumes for the manga.