Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue

Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue is a Japanese visual novel by sprite. In its world, anti-gravity shoes enable an aerial sport called Flying Circus. The story combines training, competitions and friendships with four standalone romantic story paths.

Players follow the events mainly through dialogue, illustrations and choices. Unlike a sports game, Aokana does not simulate the matches as freely controllable races.

Aokana was originally released in Japan for Windows on Nov 28, 2014. The Japanese PS Vita version followed in Feb 2016, and the PS4 HD Edition on Jan 25, 2017 on the Japanese PlayStation Store. The English-language PC version was released on Steam on Sep 27, 2019. In Europe, the Nintendo Switch version launched on Aug 21, 2020.

Mobile versions for iOS and Android also came out. Whether these older mobile versions are available in stores today cannot be equated with the availability of the PC or Switch version.

Aokana was released natively for Windows PC, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. The versions differ by region, text language and how the content is adapted.

The Japanese PS4 release carries the HD Edition addition. Nintendo Switch received an English-language version from PQube in Europe. The Switch version is a standalone release for Nintendo Switch and not a native Nintendo Switch 2 release.

Aokana is played as a visual novel through text, illustrations, Japanese voice acting and music. Players read dialogue and make decisions at certain points that shape the course of the story. Battles and Flying Circus competitions are shown as narrated scenes, not through a freely controllable flying character.

A shared start brings the characters together. Afterwards, four standalone routes unfold, focusing on different relationships and conflicts.

Aokana EXTRA1 and EXTRA2 were released as standalone additional stories from the same world. EXTRA1 focuses on Mashiro Arisaka, EXTRA2 on Misaki Tobisawa. They build on the relationships of the main game but do not replace its four story routes.

Music and audio drama releases for the main game are sold separately on Steam. They are not new campaigns for the base game.

The English-language Steam version lists at least a 1.3 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, a graphics card with 1 GB VRAM, DirectX 11 and 11 GB of free storage space.

The store listings give Windows 7 or newer as the original minimum requirement. Installing via today's Steam client also requires its current operating system requirements.

In Aokana's world, floating shoes are part of everyday life. Masaya Hinata had experience with Flying Circus himself, but withdraws from the sport. When he meets new classmates, he gets drawn back into training and competitions.

The story shows both victories and setbacks, as well as relationships within the group. Over the course of the school year, which of the four young women is at the center shifts.

Flying Circus is a competitive sport in the air made possible by anti-gravity shoes. Athletes try to tactically outmaneuver opponents and score points. Besides speed, technique, position changes and reading your opponent all play a role.

The matches are part of the story. Training, rivalries and the meaning of a competition are conveyed through scenes and dialogue, rather than as direct sports controls.

Asuka Kurashina discovers air sports with great enthusiasm. Misaki Tobisawa has exceptional talent but struggles with her attitude toward competition. Mashiro Arisaka is closely bonded with Misaki and looks for her own place. Rika Ichinose, as a determined rival, brings a different perspective on training and competition.

Each of the four characters gets their own story. Their relationships with Masaya change the story and lead to different endings.

Aokana is built as a visual novel: readers follow extensive dialogue and choose between story options at certain points. After a shared start, the story branches into four character routes with their own focuses and conclusions.

If you want to experience all the stories, play the different routes one after another. The individual versions do not simply tell the same events from a different camera angle.

The visual novel combines drawn characters, backgrounds, music and voiced dialogue. On Nintendo Switch, extras include an image viewer with numerous illustrations and an integrated music player.

Japanese voices carry many of the dialogue scenes. On the European Switch version, the text is shown in English.

The European Nintendo Switch version offers English text and Japanese voice acting. Nintendo gives this version a PEGI rating from age 16. The original Japanese PC release and later console versions were prepared for different markets.

When comparing PC and console versions, the language details and age ratings of the specific store are therefore decisive.